Better times will come
by SunniGummi
Summary: They knew what would happen, but still could not make it there in time... This story is about Maddie's human life, the change and her coping strategies. Warning: brief mention of mistreat, if you are offended by this, do yourself a favour and don't read!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey peeps!**

** Some of you were interested in reading about Maddie's human life and how she became a vampire. Avec plaisir! **

**I wrote this a while ago, so for the next 2-3 weeks I'll only post chapters for this story, because the first part is already finished.**

** I'll continue my other story asap!**

** BTW: I do NOT own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does!**

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><p>There was a knock on the door.<p>

"Come in," Carlisle said and looked up from the book he was currently reading. Alice opened the door, stepped into her father's office and closed the door behind her.

"Please take a seat, Alice," he told her, put his book away and wondered why she was smiling so much.

"What makes you so-" "_We'll be having a girl!_" the tiny pixie suddenly squealed.

Carlisle looked positively puzzled. "I'm sorry, I fail to see what you mean by that...," he admitted and his forehead creased in confusion.

"I _saw_ her, Carlisle!" She was bouncing up and down in her seat now.

No need to say that Carlisle still did not understand what Alice was talking about.

"Sweetie, why don't you start from the beginning. What did you see?"

"I saw a girl somewhere and we'll be taking her with us and she is injured and then-"

"Injured? Try to be more precise, Alice," he was immediately worried. He wanted to be prepared for that injury, if they were going to find a hurt girl.

"I don't know! But she is unconscious, yes. And we'll help her and take her home. And then I saw her being a newborn. So we'll be changing her. I'll get to have a little sister, I'm so excited! We can play dress-up and-"

"Alice! Calm down, dear. Where do we find her?" Carlisle did not want to wander off the topic, so he had to interrupt his lively daughter's chatter immediately.

"In my vision we found her lying on the ground somewhere... but not here in Alaska, it looked different," she explained.

"Do you know which city or state?"

"No. But I'll find out soon! I shall go to the mall now and get her some nice clothes! ESME!" Alice jumped out of the chair which was standing in front of Carlisle's mahogany desk, and skipped over to the door.

Carlisle instantly stood up and hurried over to catch his daughter before she left the room. "Alice! You know the future may change. Please do not tell your mother about the girl. I don't want her disappointed if your vision doesn't come true."

"But it will, Dad! It will!" Alice was still bubbling over with excitement.

"You just go shopping, sweetheart. Have fun," he said and handed her his credit card. Better have her occupied and out of the house, so he could process the information he just obtained and keep his youngest daughter from telling everyone about her latest visions.

Alice beamed up at her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she danced out of the room and down the hall.

_An injured girl?_ Carlisle was worried. _What is going to happen?_ He won't be able to help her if Alice's second vision comes true and she'll end up being changed.

But then he just had to smile. He will be father to another child. A little girl might join his family; Esme will be overjoyed - _if_ Alice's visions come true.

TBC...

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><p><strong>I know, it is very short, but I'll update fast, promise!<strong>

** Feel free to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! ****I actually wanted to update earlier, but I was beyond busy, sorry! **

**So here is the next chapter, enjoy!**

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><p><em>Two months later...<em>

"San Francisco!"

"Alice?" Jasper was confused by his wife's sudden exclamation. They were sitting on the couch in the living room and Jasper had been reading a book when Alice's eyes had glazed over and she suddenly blurted out the name of a city.

"I saw it! It's San Francisco, I need to tell Carlisle immediately! He'll be so excited!" she said swiftly, then ran from the room and directly into her father's office. She didn't even bother knocking, just stormed inside and yelled, "San Francisco!"

Carlisle's eyes widened out of surprise at his daughter's unexpected intrusion, and then a confused frown appeared on his face when he perceived her words. Was this some kind of game she was currently playing? "Pardon me?"

"I told you it'll come true! Now we know where to find her!" she beamed at her father.

Then Carlisle understood. "You are right. Now we know where to find her."

Alice smiled from ear to ear like a child on Christmas Day.

"Do you know when, Alice?" That would be good to know, too.

Alice thought about that for a moment. "It'll take some more time, I guess."

"All right, then we have to be patient for another while."

"May I tell Esme now?_ Please!_ I think she should know that she is going to be a mother again! _Please?_" Her puppy dog eyes worked on Carlisle, but he was also ready to tell his wife. Actually, it was time for the entire family to hear what would happen in the near future as it would have a big impact on all of them.

"Yes, sweetheart, you may tell her. Maybe we should tell your siblings as well," he suggested.

"I'll go get them!" she shouted while running from the room to find all of her siblings.

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><p>They met in the living room. Everybody sat down, except for Edward and Rosalie. Edward already knew what this was about - he saw the visions every time Alice saw them. Rosalie was just unhappy with family meetings as it always meant something bad, like having to move because of people being suspicious or the like.<p>

Carlisle was the first to talk. He took Esme's hands in his, looked her straight in the eye and said, "Esme, darling, we'll be having an addition to the family."

She gasped. "Is that true?" she asked and started smiling.

"Yes." He nodded. "A young girl, Esme." He could see and feel her happiness.

Esme was beside herself with joy.

Emmett looked happy.

Jasper's face was unreadable.

Edward did not say a word.

Rosalie was _livid_. "Is she already one of us?" she queried and it almost sounded like a growl.

"No, we'll find her and then we'll need to change h-" Alice started to explain, but was immediately interrupted by Rose.

"She is human and you want to _change_ her? Dooming a little girl to this kind of life? I am against it!"

Carlisle had already expected that his eldest daughter would react that way. "Rosalie, please calm down and let Alice finish."

"I don't want her to finish! I don't want this to happen!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Rose," Emmett said, "come on, let Alice explain." He took her hand and gently pulled her over to him.

Rose hesitated for a moment, then huffed and sat down on the armrest next to her husband.

"She'll be injured and unconscious. We'll take her home, but I think there is nothing Carlisle can do," she said and scrunched up her nose. "And then I had another vision about her being a newborn."

In a flash Rose was standing again. "So she's dying. Why should we take her in and doctor her if she's dying one way or the other? She is none of our concern, just leave her be!"

"Rosie, please. It is supposed to happen," Emmett believed that all of Alice's visions would come true and therefore tried to calm his wife so she would listen first and realise that it was indeed going to happen.

She snapped her head around, glaring at her husband now. "No, it is not!" she snapped, completely outraged. "She had two pathetic visions today, nothing is _supposed_ to happen!"

"She had these ever since two months ago," Edward threw in.

Rosalie stared at him in disbelief, then turned and looked at Carlisle with narrowed eyes. "And nobody considered to inform the rest of us? _Why do you even ask for a family meeting?!_"

Carlisle replied in his usual calm voice, hoping his calmness would rub off on her. "Because we are a family and our family will grow. It concerns everybody in this room, and your opinions are important to me."

"Well then, I am against it." And with that said, Rose left the room, obviously still very much enraged.

"We should go talk to her." Esme was concerned, but Carlisle held her back.

"Let her calm down first, dear."

She hesitated, but then nodded and leaned back against her husband.

"Please tell us about her, Alice," Esme said lovingly and the happiness she had felt before Rosalie had voiced her objections was returning full force.

"She looks around thirteen, maybe fourteen. I don't know the colour of her eyes, but she is a girl and she has long, dark brown hair... or black, I guess. It is dark when we'll pick her up. Oh, she lives in San Francisco right now." They didn't know why Alice mentioned that she was a girl, but she sometimes tended to not pay attention to what she was saying when she was excited.

Esme was excited to say the least. But she had to express her concern as well. "Does she have a family?"

"I don't know. Hopefully I'll have more visions about her soon... I still don't know when we will find her," Alice said apologetically.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Iif it's meant to be, you'll be having more visions," Esme replied, hoping her words would take the pressure of her tiny pixie daughter.

Carlisle cleared his throat, "Still, I would like to know what all of you think about another person joining our family." He addressed them all, already knowing that Esme was more than happy and Alice, too, of course. Rose was appalled, but what about his sons?

"I'd like to have a baby sister," Emmett said and started to grin from one ear to the other. "I'll keep the boys away from her."

_Oh, Emmett._

Carlisle turned towards his other son. "Jasper?"

"You are the leader of this coven, it is your decision to make," Jasper replied tensely.

"I would like to hear your thoughts on it. It'll change all our lives."

Jasper nodded. "Her age concerns me. The pain of the change and our vegetarian lifestyle might be too hard on a young girl. Newborns of that age are probably difficult to handle as well. Apart from that, I am looking forward to meeting her."

Carlisle smiled, squeezed his wife's hand and turned to look at Edward.

"What do you think, son?"

"I am undecided. Even though she will be dying, she might still have family and therefore we should not turn her. If we do, she might try to find her relatives and expose what we are in the process."

TBC...

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><p><strong>The next chapter will be longer :-) Review?<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter! And it is longer than the last one :-D**

** You should know that I am not a med student. If anything is wrong... boohoo. But I actually did a little research, therefore not all of the facts should be completely wrong.**

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><p><em>Another three months later<em>

Carlisle was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading. Alice was next to him going through a fashion magazine, while Esme cleaned the kitchen. Not that it got dirty, ever, but she liked it to look shiny and clean. Edward was in the adjoining room, playing his new sheet music on the piano. Only Rose, Emmett and Jasper had gone hunting - Emmett had had a craving for bear.

Carlisle looked up when he heard something hit the floor. It was Alice's magazine. She stared straight ahead and did not move, which told him that she was having a vision.

It happened often enough, so he thought nothing of it. The family was used to Alice's frequent 'absence' by now.

So Carlisle just picked the magazine up from the floor and put it on the coffee table, then continued reading.

But when Edward abruptly stopped playing, Carlisle and Esme realised something was odd.

What were they _seeing_?

"Edward?" Esme addressed her son, as she could not stand the tension.

But luckily right at that moment Alice came around.

"It's time," she said matter-of-factly.

Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder and looked her deep in the eye. "Are you sure, Alice?"

"I am. We need to leave, right now." She stood up from the couch and ran upstairs to her and Jasper's room. A couple of seconds later, and she was standing in the living room again, two big blankets in her arms.

"She'll need those," she told her father.

"What else will she need?" Carlisle queried. Everybody was tense, Esme even trembled a bit out of sheer nervousness.

They really needed to hurry so they could leave.

"I saw her falling out of a window. That is when we will find her."

"Is there something else?" he asked.

"I think I know where to find her. But why she fell, I have no idea. Let's go, hurry!" she was nervous and excited at the same time.

"All right. We'll take my car, my medical bag is already in the trunk."

"I'll come with you," Edward told him decisively.

"Thank you, Edward," he responded, then turned towards his wife as she walked over to them. "I don't think I can stand to find her half dead. I'm so sorry," she whispered and covered her mouth with one of her hands... she sounded like she was close to tears.

"Don't worry, my love, we'll bring her home. Please set everything up for our arrival, we'll inform you about her condition as soon as we find her," Carlisle tried to comfort her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful."

They just nodded and left the house.

The moment they got into the car, Alice called Jasper and informed him about her absence, which would last a couple of days. He wouldn't have come anyways, the girl might be bleeding and it was possible that he wouldn't be able to control himself.

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><p>It took them more than twenty hours to get to San Francisco. They arrived in the dark, around three o'clock in the morning. The drive from Alaska was long, but they only had to stop for gasoline and nothing else.<p>

Carlisle just hoped he had enough medical supply to last for the long drive back. In what condition exactly would she be in? If he only knew.

"We should be close, I remember that intersection," Alice said to guide Edward, who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"You are right, that's the one," he responded as he had been able to see her vision of their arrival.

Carlisle sat in the back seat, ready to jump out of the black Mercedes to help the girl instantly.

Alice had told them that they had to be quick about it.

"Do you smell that?" Edward suddenly asked and opened the window, "Something is burning."

"Look! Over there!" Alice pointed out of the window. They saw smoke rising from a building a few blocks away.

"Is that the direction we are heading?" Carlisle asked, but really hoped that it wasn't.

"I am afraid so," Alice whispered. She had not seen a fire, why had she not seen a _fire_?

They made it there in record time and noticed flames and thick smoke coming from the upper floor of an apartment building.

"It's on the other side," Alice told them and her voice cracked at the end. She felt horrible for not having seen this and was now completely unprepared for what they would find.

Edward drove around to the other side of the building.

That's when they saw an open window with smoke streaming out. There were no flames yet.

Something looked like it hung over the windowsill and as they looked more closely, they realised that it was a person. Trying to push itself up but failing, the figure fell. It happened so fast, just like in Alice's vision. The girl they wanted to save was lying on the lawn next to the building. Even though Edward and Alice had seen it before, it shocked them to witness it close to the action. And they were late by mere seconds - she wasn't moving.

Edward stopped the car right in front of her. Carlisle jumped out, carefully picked her up and ran back to the car in less than three seconds.

Some of the residents had already hurried outside and were waiting for the firemen. But luckily the main entrance was on the other side of the building, so nobody saw them taking her. Edward stepped on the gas and they speeded away from the scene.

"She is unconscious," Carlisle told his children while he laid the girl onto her side on the back seats.

She wasn't bleeding, but he could tell that her arm was broken. Her breathing was erratic.

Carlisle pulled a little oxygen bottle out of his medical bag, untwisted it and held the attached mask over her mouth and nose. He was not sure if she fainted before or after her fall, but she had been in a room full of smoke; she needed as much oxygen as she could get, or she would die of suffocation.

They could hear the siren of fire trucks coming closer.

"Edward, try to stop somewhere please. I need help back here."

Edward sped until they reached a dark alley. He then got out, opened the trunk and looked for another oxygen flask as his father had told him there would be a bigger one.

"Hold this, Alice. I need to check for other injuries and give her an infusion." She took the bottle from her father and held it in between both hands.

"She looks so rosy," she whispered, eyes big with curiosity.

"Indeed, it is an indication of carbon monoxide intoxication. Without pure oxygen, she would die soon," Carlisle explained.

Then, after sterilising the back of her hand, he pushed a needle through the skin, linked an infusion bag to the vein catheter and then hung the bag on the coat hook in the car. Now he could examine her further.

She had a broken shoulder, a broken arm and several broken ribs. Her right foot was slightly twisted. And that was only what he could detect right now with her being unconscious.

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><p>Esme was anxious.<p>

She got a call from Carlisle saying they would arrive soon and she should heat up the room where the girl would be staying.

Months ago, Alice and Esme had prepared a room for her, purchased a nice bed, clothes and even decoration.

And yesterday Esme went to the supermarket with Emmett, buying all kinds of food since they had nothing edible in the kitchen. Emmett had spent half an hour comparing cereals, then got into a heated discussion with a stock boy about whether DingDongs or HoHos were the yummiest.

Esme had to drag him out of the store by his ear before he could make a scene.

And what was especially peculiar: Emmett didn't even eat - what would he know about human food? But it was just his way of showing that he cared about his soon-to-be sister and wanted her to have the best food while she was still alive. Even though he had not met her yet.

Esme wanted to be a good mom and cook a big meal for the girl, but Carlisle had already told her on the phone that she had not woken yet.

So Esme went upstairs for the fifth time in two minutes, to check if the heater was indeed heating.

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><p>The black Mercedes came to a stop in front of the Cullen residence.<p>

Alice immediately jumped out of the passenger's seat and quickly opened the right back door of the car. Carlisle carefully picked the injured girl up, holding her with one arm under her knees and one around her torso. She was wrapped in one of Alice's soft blankets to prevent her from the cold.

There was no other sound to be heard but the scrunching of their shoes on the snow-covered ground.

Esme had opened the door the second she heard her husband's car arriving. She waited for them to come in and then accompanied them up the stairs and into the girl's room.

Carlisle put the girl down on the bed, then turned around and looked at Edward. "Go get me the portable oxygen apparatus from my office, please."

The second oxygen bottle had only lasted for half an hour. They had stopped at a pharmacy on their way back and purchased some more, but had already used them up. Carlisle was glad he had a brand new apparatus that he had bought as a precaution as they hadn't known in what kind of condition she would be in and he had wanted to be prepared for everything. And he was glad that her breathing was more or less regular again. Even her pulse had slowed to a near to normal level. Pure oxygen wasn't necessarily needed any more - the carbon monoxide should be out of her system already. But Carlisle just wanted to be sure.

Edward returned to the room and Carlisle started the machine and put the respiratory mask over her nose and mouth.

"Shall we bathe her and put her into clean clothes?" Alice asked her father, before glancing back at the girl.

"We cannot move her too much. A washcloth and warm water should be sufficient for now. And something clean to wear."

Esme gave a sigh of relief that she could finally be of some use. It pained her to see somebody that young in such a condition, even though it was to be expected.

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><p><strong> What do you think? <strong>

**Like it so far? **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi there!**

** Just finished going through this chapter, hope you like it!**

** accounting professional: She is fourteen and will stay fourteen forever ;-) **

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><p>Even after a full day at home, she had not woken up yet. They took it in turns to stay at her side.<p>

On the second day however, it was Carlisle who noticed something while changing her infusion. She moved her head to the side. Then, just a moment later, she moved her leg as well. But when she tried to roll onto her side, probably to get a more comfortable sleeping position, Carlisle held her down.

"Stay like this, your ribs are broken," he told her.

A slight frown appeared on her forehead when she realised she couldn't move any further. She was restrained, but did not know why.

Slowly, very slowly, her eyes opened but they did not focus on anything.

Carlisle waited patiently for her to be aware of her surroundings. When she looked in his direction, he called for some water and a straw - she had to be thirsty, he figured.

Mere seconds later, Esme opened the door and handed him a glass of water, then stood by his side and smiled at the dark-haired girl with the pretty green eyes.

"Here, you must be thirsty. Drink slowly," he said and held the straw to her lips, but she moved her head to the side, away from him. When he retreated his hand, she looked back at him, confusion and distrust prominent in her gaze.

"It's just water," he told her and slowly moved the glass towards her again, but she turned away once more.

"Don't be scared, sweetie," Esme said. It broke her heart to see the girl like that. She had waited so long for her to wake up, but did not expect it to be quite like this.

"It is possible that the carbon monoxide damaged parts of her brain. Maybe she doesn't even understand what we are saying," Carlisle informed his wife but did so quietly, so the girl would not to hear... if she could hear them at all.

Then he stood up from the chair, which was standing next to the bed, and walked behind it where his wife stood.

Putting an arm around his mate's shoulder, he smiled before introducing himself and her. "My name is Doctor Carlisle Cullen, this is my wife Esme."

They smiled at her, trying to ease the tension she must be feeling, but the girl just stared at them.

All right, at least she did not turn away again.

Esme made a careful step towards her. "Can I give you something to drink? Just a little bit," she said slowly.

Then she sat down on the chair and picked up the glass from the bedside table. She slowly moved it towards the girl, holding the straw in her direction with her left hand.

Oddly enough, the girl did not move away this time. At first she just went on staring at Esme, but eventually parted her lips a little for the straw. After taking a small sip of water she leaned back a bit, a sign for Esme to withdraw the glass again.

Esme set it back on the table and turned towards her husband, smiling at him.

"Could you tell us your name?" Carlisle asked.

They waited, but there was no answer.

He tried another question. "Can you understand us?"

They waited again.

She looked around the room, either not understanding a word he said or maybe not even noticing that he had said something.

Esme turned towards Carlisle with desperation in her eyes as she was so scared that the girl in front of her was indeed suffering of brain damage. "Carlisle ..."

"It's snowing."

The noise Esme made was somewhere between a sob and a laugh.

It _was _snowing. The girl was right. And she could talk, even though her voice was quite scratchy - but she hadn't talked for two days and had breathed in smoke.

"Yes, it is," Carlisle confirmed smiling.

"Why?" she asked.

Why was it snowing? This girl nearly died, and the first thing she wants to know after waking up is why it was _snowing_?

Oh.

"This is not California, dear."

She looked at him, unblinking.

"You are in Alaska." Carlisle explained, which made her frown.

"Why?" she sounded like a three-year-old, judging by the way she questioned him.

"Do you know what happened?" Now it was Carlisle asking the questions. Better ask her first about the accident, than tell her how they brought her here.

"Smoke," she breathed after a minute, but then she shook her head as if not remembering clearly or not believing it. Maybe she shook her head with too much force, because she screwed up her face in pain instantly and reached up. That was when she noticed her plastered arm. On her other hand was a bandage.

She looked back up at Carlisle. An explanation would be reeeally helpful.

"I'll give you something against the pain." Carlisle moved over to search through his medical bag, but froze in place when she said, "Tell me."

Esme watched her husband intently. Would he tell her everything?

"There was a fire," he told the girl.

She was silent for a minute.

Then she lifted her arm with the cast up, eyebrows raised, to prompt an explanation for it. Yep, a fire did not explain _that_.

"You fell out of a window. You tried to escape, don't you remember?"

She shook her head again, this time more careful. The she opened her eyes wide and gasped. "My brother?"

_Oh no_.

They had really hoped she would not ask about her family - at least not that soon.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Esme tried to distract her.

"Tell me." The girl fixed Carlisle with a keen look.

"The fire broke out at night, while you all were sleeping. He did not make it, I am very sorry," he answered carefully and watched her close her eyes. "I'll give you something to ease the pain now. Would you like to eat a little something?"

But she did not react to anything for the next few hours, just stared out of the window and into the distance.

TBC ...

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><p><strong>Next chapter will be up tomorrow! Or the day after tomorrow, I'm not sure yet ... <strong>

**Review?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Phew, aaand another one! I am spoiling you, my dear readers :-D**

** I am not sure when I'll update the next chapter. Maybe it will take a couple of days. We'll see.**

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><p>"Hi." Alice whispered when she entered the room. She closed the door quietly behind her, then skipped over to the chair next to the bed.<p>

She quickly sat down, bent forward and looked at her with wide eyes. "Hellooo?"

The girl slowly opened her eyes.

"I'm Alice! What's your name?" Alice asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

But... no answer.

"Come on, I know you can talk! We're dying to know your name, keep calling you 'the girl' and 'she'. So, what's your name?" Alice queried.

And right at that moment, Carlisle opened the door.

The girl looked up at him for a split second, then whispered to Alice, "Jen."

"Alice, she needs to rest. Please leave," Carlisle told his daughter.

So Alice stood up from the chair and made to walk over to the door to leave the room, but a voice stopped her.

"No, you leave," the girl lying on the bed said to Carlisle, who was slightly taken aback. Pretty perky for a girl in a condition like this.

He looked in between the human and his vampire daughter, then nodded his head hesitantly. "Very well. Call me if you need anything."

She looked away, so he walked outside and closed the door again.

"He took care of you, you know," Alice told her with a hint of rebuke in her soft voice.

"Why am I here?" the girl queried and completely ignored what she had just said.

Alice wanted to avoid the question, because Carlisle had told all of them not to give the girl too much information at a time.

"We found you... and my father is a doctor, so he took care of you," she answered carefully.

"In Alaska?"

Alice nodded her head like a hyper child. "Yes, we live here. Have you seen the snow yet? It's really high, everything looks like -" "It doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't make sense? It's winter! Of course it's snowing!"

She groaned while trying to sit up a little straighter. "I'm not in a hospital in San Francisco."

"No." Alice shook her head.

_That's it?_ "Why?" she asked slowly, so that Alice would hopefully understand and answer her question.

"I've just told you! My Dad's a doctor and-" "Whose room is this?"

"Yours, silly! Do you like it? We even got you a brand-new TV, but Carlisle said it would be too trying for your eyes right now."

The girl looked at Alice as if she was bananas. "What?!" That answer was really weird... a TV? What the fuck was she talking about?

Alice turned her head to the side as if she was listening to something, then said, "Oh! I have to go! See you soon, Jenny!" and ran from the room.

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><p>"Alice. I know you are excited and you want to help, but you confused her just now. Give the poor girl some time first so she can acclimatise herself," Carlisle mildly rebuked when Alice entered the living room. He had called her downstairs as soon as he heard his daughter babbling away.<p>

"I'm sorry, but she should know that this is going to be her room from now on!"

"It is too early, sweetie. She wouldn't understand."

"But how can we get to know her if we don't talk to her?" Alice whined.

"We'll talk to her, but she just woke up today, Alice. She lost her family, she is injured and she is currently situated in a different state with people she does not know and hasn't met before. It would be too overwhelming for one day. Do you understand that?"

Alice sighed deeply. "Yes, Dad," she replied.

Edward entered the living room and walked right over to his father.

"She is suspicious," he told him. "She doesn't understand why she is here and not in California. And she feels like you kidnapped her, although she doesn't know why her of all people."

"I guessed as much. It would help if she remembered more about the fire and her fall."

"Oh, she remembers something. At least I saw her reach for a door handle, then jerking back and looking at her hand," Edward explained.

"She has burn marks, yes. I figured they would come from reaching out for the door; the metal of the handle heated up due to the fire."

Carlisle had bandaged up her right hand during the drive back to Alaska. The palm of her hand had been all red and blistered.

"What do we do now? What do you plan on telling her why she is here?"

"Son, I have no idea. But I don't want to disturb her with too much information right now."

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><p>"How are you feeling?" Carlisle asked the girl when he entered her room later that day with his medical bag in hand.<p>

"Fine," she said without looking at him. She was far from fine... she felt dizzy and slightly nauseous. Her arm and torso hurt - heck, even _breathing_ hurt.

"No pain?" he asked sceptically.

"Nope," she lied. Of course she was in pain, but she did not want him near her.

"Esme is making you some soup," he informed her, trying but failing to make small talk, because she just answered with a nod.

"I need to go to work now, but would you like some company? I can ask my children to spend some time with you. They are all very curious about you."

"Children?" That made her curious, too.

Carlisle smiled. "You have only met Alice yet. She is not my only child."

She shrugged her right shoulder, the one that wasn't hurting.

"All right. I'll see you later then," he said to her and left the room again.

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><p>Rose was first to volunteer to keep the girl company. She was still mad at Carlisle for bringing her here, but felt pity for the poor girl - she had practically been kidnapped and taken to another state! She was injured and confused. And to top it all of, she would be dying soon, and didn't even know it yet.<p>

Rosalie knocked on the door and entered.

"Hello, I'm Rosalie," she said, tossed her blond curls back over her shoulder and took a seat.

"You are his daughter?" the girl asked disbelievingly.

"I am," Rose confirmed.

"No shit?"

"You think he is too young, don't you? We are adopted." Rosalie smirked. It was always difficult for humans to understand.

"_We?_" She had met Alice, yes, but it sounded as if there were even more than just the two girls.

"Me, Alice, and our three brothers," Rose explained.

Woah ... did this guy collect children or something? Sicko.

"What am I doing here?" the girl asked and was still looking totally confused.

"Don't ask me any questions." Rose did not want to be the one explaining everything. She was still against keeping her here, after all.

"Are you mental? I woke up in a different state with strangers all around me. What am I _doing_ here?"

"I told you not to ask me any questions," Rose countered, before she asked in a conversational tone, "Do you have relatives?"

"Oh, I'm not allowed to ask questions, but you are?" came as a retort. She was tired and her voice was hoarse, but nevertheless she continued to talk to the blonde girl in order to get some answers.

"This is important, I am trying to help you. Do you have any relatives?" Rose asked again and hoped she would say yes.

The girl stared at her intently, before she eventually muttered, "My aunt."

"Where?"

"New York City."

Oh, thank God.

"I can take you there in a couple of days."

"Really?" Hopeful eyes looked up at Rose.

"Of course, you do not have to stay here. But let's wait a bit until you can move."

"I _can_ move!" The girl tried to get out of bed, but Rose held her down.

"Stop it, will you?! Your ribs are broken, your shoulder as well, your hip isn't all right either, plus your foot was twisted or something. And you're suffering of smoke intoxication."

"Oh. Do I?" she asked and distorted her lips. That was a lot.

"Yes."

"But I am feeling better, let's go!" she whined. Too bad Rosalie wasn't a fan of whining.

"I can tie you down if you don't listen to me," Rose threatened, and it was definitely not a playful threat.

"Hey, it's not my fault I am here," the girl answered, eyes big and sad.

"I know," Rose said sympathetically and sighed. "Here, have some more water."

"No, I don't want that," the girl moaned and pushed Rose's hand with the glass in it away from herself.

"I don't care."

Wow, that Rosalie-girl was difficult!

Rose held the glass of water in front of her again. "Drink up, you need lots of fluid. If you don't get better, we cannot drive to New York."

Huh.

That was actually reasonable.

And so she drank, even though she did not want to. But the fact that she could leave in a couple of days made her relax a bit. Maybe they weren't just a bunch of freaks, but nice people.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again! Finally I have enough time to post some chapters again! Please check my other story 'One thing leads to another' as well!**

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><p>Carlisle checked on the girl as soon as he came home from work in the morning.<p>

He entered her room, medical bag in hand, and came to a stop next to the bed.

"Good morning. How are you today?" Carlisle asked in a friendly tone when he saw that she wasn't asleep anymore.

She was obviously not too pleased to see him, because she preferred to stare out of the window.

So she just nodded her head and decided to skip that question. "Are you feeling any pain or dizziness?"

She shook her head carefully. Well, she felt like crap but he didn't need to know.

But Carlisle noticed that she did not look too good. That was to be expected after what she had gone through. To him it was just very peculiar that she would lie about not feeling any pain. How could she endure this?

"Does talking or breathing hurt?"

She hesitated, then slowly shook her head no again, averting her eyes.

Despite her negating head shake, he gave her some pain medication just to be sure - he couldn't let her suffer.

"Esme will bring you tea and something to eat. It'll help you feel better."

_Yeah right_.

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><p>Later that day, Carlisle had decided that tonight was the right time for his family to meet the girl and vice versa. Jasper and Emmett had just come home from a hunting trip; Jasper hadn't wanted to be at home when they brought the girl, because she might have been bleeding. So the two had spend the time away from the house to make sure there wouldn't any unfortunate incidents.<p>

Carlisle and Esme entered the girl's room. Esme brought a mug of hot tea and placed it on the bedside table, then went back to the doorway, looked out into the hall and said, "You can come in now."

W_ho _can come in now?

The girl immediately recognised the girls, but not the guys that walked into the bedroom after them. All of a sudden it felt pretty crowded in there.

With a big smile on his face, Carlisle said, "You haven't met the boys yet. This is Emmett, Jasper and Edward." He introduced his sons and motioned at each one while saying their names.

They all said Hi and looked at her.

_Hey, who wouldn't feel comfortable when a bunch of strangers are staring at you? Gosh._

And they looked weird... with all of them together, you could see the differences and similarities. They did not look alike, therefore they were not related. But there was still something, like... their eyes. All were strangely honey-colored. She had never seen this eye color before.

"Is this a cult?" she asked and felt a little uneasy in their presence.

"Haha, awesome!" The huge guy with dark hair - Emmett - laughed.

"This is not a cult," Edward clarified.

"Some kind of commune?" The girl queried.

"No dear, it is not," Esme answered.

"Loony bin?" Maybe she was crazy and imagined things. Maybe she was still in San Francisco, just totally fucked up.

"No! You are at our home," Esme spoke again.

"Am I high?" _Who knows?_

"No." Carlisle shook his head.

"Well then... big family," she commented and blinked at them.

Alice smiled and swayed from side to side - she looked utterly happy. Emmett smiled like a Cheshire cat, while Rose was leaning against the door frame.

"How are you feeling?" Edward asked.

"Fine," the girl answered, trying not to talk too much - of course she was hurting.

"You are in pain," Jasper stated - he was the boy who looked like he was suppressing the need to cut a fart.

Edward chuckled at that moment.

_What is so funny, idiot-boy? And the way the blond one said I was in pain... how would he know?_

"I'll give you something," Carlisle told her and rummaged through his black bag.

All of a sudden the girl sat up and asked, "What about my mother?" Better ask them all, she thought, it was easier to get an answer that way.

"I beg your pardon?" Carlisle turned around to look at her.

"You said my brother did not make it, what about my mother?" Her voice was still a bit raspy, but right now very determined.

Suddenly everybody seemed to tense up and they looked at Carlisle, curious about what he would do and say.

"I'm so sorry, dear. Your parents did not make it... they are not alive anymore," They had dreaded to tell her what they had read about the fire in an online newspaper. She was still so young and had lost everything she ever had in one single night. Would it have been better to not tell her? But Alice had warned them about that - the girl would go crazy if they didn't answer at least some of her questions.

"I was asking about my mother, not him," she snapped at Carlisle.

He was taken aback. "Him?

"No one worth mentioning," she huffed and looked away. The anger she was showing let her forget the pain she was in, obviously.

They just looked at her and waited, until she got uneasy enough to finally answer the question.

"My mom's husband."

"You don't call him father?" Edward asked.

She snorted. "I'd rather die."

"That might happen," Emmett commented smartly with a goofy grin. Rose hit his arm, _hard_.

An anxious 'Huh?' came out of the girl's mouth.

"Nothing, don't listen to him, he's always joking around," Esme tried to allay the girl's fear, then gave her son a strict look.

"Yeah, that was hilarious," she muttered quietly. How could he joke about that? She had just lost her family, jerk.

And then tears formed in her eyes.

"You better leave now." Carlisle addressed his children when he noticed it. He wanted all of them out of the room before they would said even more hurtful things. The girls always did a better job.

Only Esme stayed.

"Why am I here?" That question again. "The blond one wouldn't tell me."

"I will explain it to you soon." Carlisle still had not made up his mind about how to approach the matter. And she was still too weak for them to enlighten her.

"I want to know _now,_" she stated petulantly.

"I cannot tell you now, your condition is not stable yet. It will worsen soon, hopefully you'll recover."

Her eyes went big and she looked a little scared. "What are you talking about?"

"You breathed in carbon monoxide. It blocks your hemoglobin from transporting oxygen through your body. I gave you pure oxygen to breathe, so you wouldn't suffocate."

That explanation was acceptable, but not complete.

"Why would it worsen? I'm fine, I can talk and stuff."

"What you breathed in due to the fire will damage your brain, heart and central nervous system in the long run. Then it will take a longer time to recover, if you recover." Carlisle had to give her some information. Better be honest about that.

"What?!" Her heartbeat quickened - what he just told her really scared her.

"You might very likely develop headaches, dizziness, paralysis, memory disorder and/or parkinsonism."

He went on. "Your broken ribs concern me as well. If you move too much, they might shift and hurt your inner organs."

_Well, awesome news ..._

"We are concerned about one more thing."

"Huh?" There was _more_?

"We think you might have been mistreated in your home."

"What?" the girl asked, clearly confused.

"Esme saw a burn on your shoulder."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I was in a freakin' fire!" _What an idiot._

Carlisle looked completely unfazed by her little outburst. "It has the shape of a flatiron."

The girl just stared at him, then slowly shook her head no. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Jenny."

She hung her head and a minute passed, before she quietly said, "They were nice people, ok? I was the one who hurt others."

"What do you mean?" Esme asked carefully.

"Doesn't matter," she replied, chewing on her lip, eyes downcast.

"You can tell us," Esme said and sat down on the side of the bed, right next to the girl.

She looked at them, and after a lot of hesitation she started talking.

"My father died a couple of years ago, and... it wasn't easy for me and my Mom. From then on everything changed, you know. We argued... a lot, and I started skipping school and stealing from her. And then we argued even more." She stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. "About one year after my father died, she met someone. "

Then she suddenly huffed and her eyes seemed to blaze. "One year! One lousy year! She didn't even have the _decency_ to wait a little longer. And to top it off, she was _happy_. I was _so_ mad, I couldn't take it anymore. So... I left."

Carlisle and Esme looked at each other. They were glad that the girl finally opened up to them, but were not prepared for _that_. _She had left her mother? Where did she live? On the streets?_

They wanted to say something, but she continued - speaking slowly. "After maybe, half a year, I came back. And believe it or not, they had gotten married and she was fucking pregnant! I left the same night again... with some money, of course." The anger she must have felt at that time shone through.

"It took me another couple of months to realise that I was missing out on something, you know. If I went home, I could give my mom's new husband a chance, and even have a little brother. Well, half brother, but whatever." A single tear rolled down the girl's cheek. "And the night I came back home - willing to try it out, there was the fire, I guess. I don't remember."

She had stared at the blanket while she told them her story, and more tears started to roll down her cheeks. She tried to wipe at them with her bandaged hand, so Esme quickly pulled a Kleenex from the box resting on the bedside table, gently pushed the girl's hand down and dried her tears away with the tissue, all the while whispering soothing words.

"I couldn't stop myself, you know. I was so angry all the time and had to take it out on someone. I knew I was hurting my Mom. And I was sorry and wanted to apologise, but somehow I couldn't and instead I just went on treating her like shit." She began sobbing in earnest now. "And now it's too late..." More tears - more sobbing.

Esme and Carlisle were shocked. So much suffering at such a young age. The girl was feeling remorse for her behaviour of the last couple of years, and she would never get rid of it again, even though it wasn't her fault.

Esme patted her arm in a comforting manner and she could have cried as well.

Carlisle gave the girl something to help her sleep, because he didn't want her to get that worked up in her condition.

When she calmed down, they left the room to grant her some much needed sleep.

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><p><strong>So? Review? Please? :-)<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again! Sorry for the delay, but every single time I look my chapters over, I start to change and add some things and because of that, you have to wait a while longer. But here we go, next chapter!**

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><p>Esme and Carlisle walked down the stairs and into the living room where the rest of the family was waiting.<p>

"You have heard, haven't you?" Carlisle asked quietly.

"Yes, that shameless, little -"

"Edward! How dare you talk about her like that?" Esme became angry. How could he say something like that? The poor child was suffering both physically and emotionally - she did not deserve to be called names!

Edward gave his mother a really annoyed look.

"Edward, stop that," Carlisle rebuked immediately as he noticed it.

But Edward just smirked. "Would you care to let me finish? She _lied_ to you."

"I beg your pardon?" Carlisle asked and shook his head in disbelief. "What exactly did she lie about?"

"She lied about everything! Well, she did lose her father and she did leave her mother, but apart from that - nothing but lies."

"How is that possible? She cried and sobbed, the poor girl!" These were really confusing news for Esme and she had trouble believing her son's words.

"It was an act."

"Her heartbeat did not quicken. It normally does when the person is lying, it is making them nervous." Carlisle stated.

"She is probably very experienced when it comes to not telling the truth. She had a blast telling you this nonsense and watching your faces afterwards. Plus she got around telling you where her scar comes from," Edward said and he looked and sounded clearly amused.

"Clever girl," Emmett laughed, "she tricked both of you and you didn't even notice, ha!"

Carlisle and Esme glared at Emmett in order to make him shut up.

It worked.

"Where does the burn mark come from, Edward?" Esme still wanted to know.

"She hasn't thought about it yet, therefore I cannot tell you."

"But why would Jen lie to Esme and Carlisle?" Alice asked all of a sudden. She did not understand the girl's motivation.

"Her name is not Jen," Edward corrected his petite sister.

"But she said... oh. But what is her real name then?"

"I don't know." Edward shrugged his shoulders.

"So she's either a notorious liar, or she has trust issues. Maybe she does not like us very much," Emmett mused as he tried to sum it all up.

"Why would she? Her family is dead, she got kidnapped and half the bones in her body are broken." Yes, Rose saw things the way they were.

"The girl is curious about us, she noticed that we are different. But still, she gave you wrong information on purpose with that story she told you. You haven't told her why she's here, so she figured it would be safer for her to lie. Oh, there's something else: Carlisle, she thinks you might hurt her." Right now, Edward really enjoyed being one step ahead, even though what he told his family couldn't exactly be described as happy news.

"Why does she think Carlisle would hurt her?" Alice asked and the rest of the family was just as curious. And confused. Carlisle had a heart of gold and was the most compassionate and gentle person they knew.

Well, they did have an idea why she wouldn't want Carlisle to be near her, but without proof they could only assume.

"I'm not sure. I just know that she plans on running away as soon as she possibly can."

"Running away? She really does not want to stay with us?" Esme's words were tinged with sadness. She knew next to nothing about the young girl lying in bed on the upper floor right now, but she had already embosomed her.

"Why would she," Rose muttered despisingly.

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><p>"Good morning, sweetie! How are you today?" Esme asked lovingly and put a cup of tea and a plate of pancakes on the little nightstand.<p>

"All right, I guess," the girl replied weakly.

"Here, you need to eat something," Esme told her and held a forkful of pancake in front of the girl's mouth, ready to feed her.

"No." The girl shook her head.

"Come now, you look like you haven't eaten properly in a while. Just try a little bit," Esme tried to coax her into eating something to regain her strength.

"No, everything I had yesterday came back up. Throwing up hurts. I don't want that."

She had indeed not been able to keep the food down the day before, and so she could understand her hesitation. Putting the fork away, she said, "Well, have some tea first, then. It'll help settle your stomach."

The girl nodded and took a sip of tea from the mug Esme had handed her.

"Hey, um... do you think I could take a shower? I can smell smoke in my hair and it is driving me crazy."

Esme distorted her mouth at that question. "I have to ask Carlisle about that. You shouldn't be standing or walking around too much."

"Pleeeaaase, I don't want to smell it anymore," she whined, and it wasn't just an act. Over the last days she had gotten some memories back, and they were quite shocking.

"I'll sent him up here." Esme said without thinking. But the girl's reaction made her remember instantly what Edward told them last night. "No!" she exclaimed. It sounded nervous and uneasy.

Now it was official - she really did not want to be alone with Carlisle.

Esme nodded. "I'll be right back," she said and left the room, only to come back a minute later to tell her what the doctor had said. "We have to be very careful. You can take a bath, and one of us will help you."

The girl seemed to have relaxed a bit again. "Thanks, but I don't need help washing myself."

"You cannot move too much with broken ribs, dear. And your arm is in a cast, your hand bound. Let us help you. Me or one of the girls."

The girl motioned for Esme to come closer, who immediately complied. "I don't want you to see me naked," she whispered.

Esme just had to smile at that. "Sweetie, it is nothing we haven't seen before! You don't have to be ashamed," she told her.

It wasn't just that she did not want others to see her naked - she didn't want them to notice her scars. They would ask questions, and she was not in the mood for answering them.

"Fine, but you go out while I undress and get in the tub, right?" the girl asked tentatively.

Esme nodded reassuringly. "Sure. If you need help, call for us."

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><p>The girl had chosen Rose to help her in the bathroom, therefore she was the one who noticed the little round scars on the girl's right knee and thigh.<p>

"What happened to you? Who did that?" Rosalie demanded and pointed at the little wounds that the girl immediately tried to hide by letting her knee sink back down under the blanket of foam covering the warm bath water.

"Don't ask me any questions," the girl replied smartly, then blew at the foam to make the bubbles burst. It was really nice to take a bath - she hadn't taken one in forever. The water was warm and the whole room smelled of lavender and vanilla.

Rosalie gave her 'the' look. "Who?"

"It is none of your business, so leave me the fuck alone."

"I volunteered to help you, so you better treat me with respect." Rosalie did not take shit from anyone.

"Like I've told your 'mom', I can wash myself, thank you very much." Was the girl's petulant answer.

"No you can't. You are practically invalid. Just look at you, half your body is black and blue and you have several broken bones. Geez, you can't even use your hands."

"Tell me something I don't know..." While undressing, the girl realised for the first time in what condition exactly her body was in. She had so many bruises - it looked like even her bruises had bruises. All the colours of the rainbow could be admired on her ribcage, hip and thigh - the body parts she fell on. Her arm and shoulder probably looked the same underneath the cast.

Rosalie pointed at the girl's knee again. "Now, who did this?"

Silence.

"So?" she prompted insistently.

"I did." Smile.

Rose huffed. "Don't give me that, I know you are lying."

"I'm not! We had a bet going, and I won," the girl defended herself.

Rose narrowed her eyes at that. "A bet about what?"

"Pain tolerance," she said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rosalie was dumbfounded. "And what did you win for hurting yourself and scarring your body forever?"

"Another bottle of Jack," the girl shrugged as well as she could.

"You shouldn't be drinking at your age, you know," Rosalie told her and continued to wash the girl's back with a soft sponge.

"I know," she answered while poking the scented bubbles.

"Where did this scar come from? Another bet?" Rose was lightly touching the girl's shoulder, right next to the burn mark in the shape of a flatiron. She didn't know if it still hurt, so she'd rather not touch it directly.

"Nope." The girl popped the 'p' audibly.

"I'd like to know."

"Me, too. I can't remember."

"You don't remember something that happened several months, or even a year, ago?" _Yeah, right._

"Nope."

"You are lying." This girl had lied last night, so Rose did not put it past her to do it again!

But Rosalie's nagging questions seemed to have an effect on the girl, who only answered reluctantly. "... it is embarrassing, so I'm not gonna tell."

"Embarrassing? It might be painful, or deforming, or anything but embarrassing!"

"But it is... I'll only tell you if you promise to keep it a secret." And there were the puppy dog eyes.

"I will," Rosalie replied honestly.

"Pinky swear?" The girl held her bandaged hand up. Her fingers poked out of the white mull, and they looked so tiny and thin.

Rose rolled her eyes at the childish gesture but complied. She slung her pinky finger around the girl's and said, "Pinky swear."

"Ok... we went swimming, well, me and my friends. And we had some booze as well. After a while a friend of mine got so wasted that he threw all our stuff into the water. _He was a jerk_. Anyways, everything was soaked, and so I had to wear a wet jacket over my bikini top when I got home. My mom was ironing clothes when she saw me and called me over to her. She wanted to take the jacket from me and then she smelled the alcohol, we argued, blah blah blah."

"... and then she burned you," Rosalie concluded.

"God no! What's wrong with you? My Mom would never do that! We argued, she wanted to take the jacket from me and got it off of me, I held onto it, then I lost my balance and fell backwards. Right into the stupid iron. And that way I burned my shoulder. Ta-dah. I said it's embarrassing."

Rose shook her head and continued to run the sponge over her other shoulder. "Like I have told you: You shouldn't be drinking at your age."

"Yeah, I know," she replied and tried to shrug her shoulder again. "Whatever."

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><p><strong>Don't forget to REVIEW!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Oh dear, I've really neglected this story, makes me sad. I hope it won't happen again! And I know I've told you in my last update of 'One thing leads to another' that I would update yesterday ... but we were having a BBQ and then I forgot :-( Sorry!**

** So, here you go, next chapter!**

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><p>"Good job, Rosalie," Edward remarked when his sister came down the stairs after taking the girl back to her room and tucking her in.<p>

"What do you want?" she snapped at Edward while passing him on her way to the couch. She was feeling emotionally exhausted... all this thinking and worrying was taking its toll on her.

"I am merely congratulating you on getting some information out of her."

She quickly turned back around and glared daggers at him. "Congratulating?! Do you think this is funny?"

"It is, considering she lied to you and you believed her."

She just huffed, then made her way over to the couch and sat down next to Esme.

As soon as she was seated, Edward casually mentioned something he thought they might be interested in knowing. "Her name is Madeline."

"That's a pretty name!" Esme immediately cooed and her face lit up.

"And the scars actually do come from mistreat," he added.

Their faces fell.

Rose shook her head lightly while saying, "But she was so witty... it did not seem like she was remembering something horrible."

"She pushed it away while she was talking to you. Just concentrating on feeding you lies, which she enjoyed a lot. But she is thinking about it right now."

"Oh no, I'm going upstairs and see her!" Esme was frantic. Her maternal feelings had taken over again and she desperately wanted to bring comfort to the girl; she wanted to make it all better, wanted her to forget about anything bad that had ever happened to her.

"Don't! How do you want to explain?" Edward said and Esme stopped dead in her tracks.

"So... what did really happen to her shoulder?" Rosalie took her eyes off of Esme and looked at Edward.

"I am not completely sure, but the person I am seeing might be her stepfather. Either way, I saw this charming _specimen_ hitting her across the face, then pushing her to the ground and pressing the flatiron onto her bare shoulder. I'm not completely sure since she was lying on her stomach, but she was definitely in a lot of pain. And this is the memory she just replayed in her head."

"This is disgusting," Rose felt sick to her stomach.

Edward nodded slowly. "She was brought home by a police officer and a child service worker. This guy seemed to make an impression on them and they left her there with him, even though she clearly did not want to stay. The moment the door closed however, he pulled her by her hair to the next room where he burned her shoulder blade."

"Did you see anything else?" Esme asked her youngest son.

"No," he lied to her face. He saw quite a few more situations of mistreatment, but decided it was best to not let his mother know. It wouldn't change anything and it certainly wouldn't help for Esme to know. She had suffered at the hand of her former husband, after all... so why trigger bad memories?

"Is she calm or upset? Should I go upstairs and see her?" Esme asked, clearly concerned.

"Her mind is blank right now. She zoned out."

"What do we do now? She told me she had an aunt," Rose explained.

"Considering that everything she ever told us was a lie, I wouldn't put it past her that she lied about that as well."

"Well, then... let's find out." Rosalie was determined to find out _right now_. It was the girl's only chance, if she would make it, to live a normal life again. Otherwise she would have to go through children's homes and foster families and that wasn't particularly favourable.

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><p>Rose and Edward made their way upstairs and entered the girl's bedroom.<p>

"How are you feeling?" Edward asked all gentleman-like when he came to a halt next to the dresser by the door.

"Fine," she said but sounded awfully tired. She looked like she was running a fever which was probably the reason for her sleepiness.

Rosalie cleared her throat, then queried, "Listen, we were just talking about taking you to New York City soon. Where can we find your aunt?"

"You don't have to take me there," she replied and tried to sit up. "I'll take the train or hitchhike or something."

Hitchhike? Rosalie couldn't believe her ears. "You shouldn't be travelling on your own, especially not in a condition like this. So, what is your aunt's name?"

"Christina Roberts," The girl answered quick like a shot.

Rose turned her head to glance at Edward, who just shook his head slightly - not noticeable to human eyes.

She turned back around. "Lie."

Edward tensed behind his sister - she wasn't supposed to let the girl know that they knew!

"'Scuse me?"

"You are lying. We cannot help you if you keep on doing this," Rose told her sternly.

"Keep on ...? I've told you the truth." The girl was obviously confused.

"No, you did not, _Madeline._"

Finally they got the reaction they were waiting for. The girl's heartbeat increased, and her eyes widened in shock for a second. But she caught herself immediately and hoped nobody had noticed her reacting to that name.

"You have the wrong girl. I knew something was off with you. But listen - I am not the one, so let me go already."

"What are you talking about? We are helping you get well again." Edward told her.

"Yeah, in a different state and not in a hospital. You are so good to me, how can I ever thank you," she replied, her voice completely free of emotion.

"I do understand that this might be very confusing to you, but -" Edward started, but got interrupted by the girl, who snapped, "You fuckers don't know anything about me! You took me with you as if I were a stray dog after I've lost my family in a fire - in which I should have died, too, by the way - and you tell me you are good to me?! Go fuck yourselves!"

Even though the girl was very weak, that was a full-blown outburst. Edward and Rosalie were completely taken aback.

She had pushed herself up to get out of the bed, but could not hold her balance. Lying in bed as much as she had over the last couple of days did that to her. She swayed a bit and closed her eyes to lose the dizziness; Rose came over and tried to steady her, but the girl snarled, "Don't touch me." and turned away quickly.

That movement was what you could call the beginning of the end.

Rose and Edward heard the girl wince and that her breathing changed as if she did not get enough oxygen or something.

"Lie back down," Rose urged and pushed her carefully back into bed.

"Maybe we should call Carlisle," Edward suggested, already at the door and his cell phone in hand.

"I don't want him near me," Maddie croaked out with closed eyes.

"Shush," Rose said and nodded at her brother. He left the room immediately.

"I'm all better, really. Just the wrong movement."

"Calm yourself. Carlisle will be here soon to examine you. I can stay with you, if you'd like."

The girl looked her directly in the eye then and to Rose it was like she could feel all the pain, confusion and despair the girl was experiencing at the moment.

She nodded, which relieved Rosalie.

It was a start.

About ten minutes later, Carlisle walked into the room to check on the girl. He had been at work and so it took him some time to come back home.

"Is everything all right? What happened?" he asked, concern thick in his voice.

"We upset her and she tried to get up. That was when her breathing got heavier," Rosalie explained.

"Let me see."

The girl tensed up when he touched her torso.

"I'm all better," she said weakly and tried to push his hand away.

She didn't look good, at all.

Carlisle unbuttoned her pyjama top, just leaving the upper part buttoned. He needed to see her ribs and listen to her chest.

He retrieved a stethoscope from his bag and used it to listen to her breathing.

"One of your ribs must have shifted and pressed against your pleura. It is not injured, which is good."

The girl didn't look at him.

"Pain medication would be in order, I think. It'll make you feel better, dear."

He injected through the vein catheter, which was still located in the back of her hand, before leaving the room with Rose so she could calm down and sleep a bit.

* * *

><p>As soon as they reached the living room, Carlisle cleared his throat loudly to catch his children's attention.<p>

"Now, I want you two to tell me what happened earlier," he queried and crossed his arms over his chest. He did not look amused in the slightest.

"Carlisle, we didn't mean any harm. But she told me she had an aunt, and we wanted to find out if she really does," Rose explained.

"And does she have an aunt?" Carlisle asked with raised eyebrows.

Rose shook her head no. "No, she doesn't."

"Well, she did have an aunt, but she passed away," Edward piped up.

"Holy cow, why is everybody dying around her? She really seems to have a monopoly on bad luck," Emmett commented from his seat on the couch.

Edward rolled his eyes at his brother' lack of tact. "Her aunt had an aneurysm."

"So she really doesn't have anyone left. She's all alone," Esme remarked pensively.

"Unfortunately, she is," Edward confirmed.

"No, she is not! She has us and we'll take good care of her! She will be my sister!" Alice insisted.

"I was just wondering... she obviously doesn't trust us, but she seemed to believe us when we told her her family is dead. Why is that?" Rosalie mused.

"She remembers," Edward said.

"What exactly does she remember?" Carlisle asked and he sounded very concerned. Painful memories would not be beneficial for her healing process...

"Well, her hand is burned because she reached out for the door handle. But she then used a t-shirt and wrapped it around her hand. That way she was able to open the door. There was smoke in the hallway, and so she held the shirt over her mouth and nose and ran into her parent's room. She shook her mother's shoulder, but she didn't move. She hurried over to her brother's baby cot then, and placed a hand on his chest, but he wasn't moving or breathing either. That was when she left the room, ran back into hers and closed the door behind herself. She then opened the window and tried to get out. You know the rest."

"She is a smart girl. Closing the door before she opens the window in order to not fan the flames any further," Carlisle commented.

Rose wanted to know the whole story. "Why did she survive? I don't understand."

"Madeline figured that out, too."

"Madeline?" Carlisle asked.

"That is her name! Pretty, isn't it?" Esme told her husband and took his hand in hers, squeezing it slightly.

"Madeline Cullen." Alice got carried away again, oh boy...

"Please, go on," Carlisle requested, addressing Edward.

"He room was furthest down the hall, and she was lying in her bunk bed. The upper bed, to be precise."

"So it was carbon dioxide that killed her family, as it is heavier that air. That way her family suffocated, but she didn't."

Edward nodded his head in affirmation.

"But why did she wake up in the middle of the night?"

"Her stepfather had slapped her across the face several times, she couldn't sleep well due to the pain in her cheekbone. The bruise on her face isn't due to her fall from the window like we assumed."

"But she will survive, won't she?" Rosalie asked tentatively.

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><p><strong>Review?<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**UPDATE!**

** It is a shorter one, but I don't want you to lose interest in this story just because I am incredibly slow when it comes to updating. **

** I really cannot tell you when I'll update again, because I have to do some research first. Just wanna get the facts right! I am far from being a perfectionist, but I don't wanna come to a dead end in the middle of the story. **

**Add this story to your story alert list and you'll receive an email as soon as I update again.**

** In the meantime you could read my other story, I add new chapters more frequently. Kay? Good.**

** Well, enough said, read the chapter as long as it's still warm!**

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><p>An oppressive silence filled the room the moment Rose had asked her father if the girl would heal.<p>

All eyes were on Carlisle and the atmosphere grew tense.

He let his fingers run through his hair, then looked his eldest daughter straight in the eye, pondering over the possibilities of what he should tell her. But there weren't many.

"I am not sure, Rosalie. She is running a fever, and her lungs concern me. I think she is developing pneumonia, which is very common after breathing in smoke and soot particles."

"You can treat pneumonia," Rose argued. "It is not lethal."

Carlisle didn't want to make any promises to his family about the girl getting well again as she probably wouldn't recover. "She is weak, I don't know if her body can fight it."

"She is feisty, she'll fight! It doesn't seem like she wants to die," Rose commented.

Jasper stood up from his seat and addressed all of them. "We need to make a decision. If she was to die, would she be changed?"

Silence again.

"She hasn't got anyone left," Esme eventually uttered with sadness in her voice.

Emmett felt like it was his turn to talk. "Yes, but we need to know for sure if she wants to live or if she's sick of it. I mean, she is what - thirteen?, has lost her entire family and got abused for the last couple of years or something. Wouldn't go over too well if she wanted to die and we yell 'SURPRISE!' at her the moment she wakes up - after she was forced to endure the excruciating pain of the change, I might add."

Edward stood there and frowned. "How do you plan on finding out what she would choose? You can't just randomly ask her if she would prefer death to living with us. She is already confused enough as it is."

Esme shook her head no. "No, we can't possibly ask her that. But doesn't she deserve to live after all she has gone through?"

"She is too young to die, so we won't let her," Alice stated matter-of-factly and shrugged her shoulders. It was all clear in her head: This girl equals her vampire sister in the near future. She had _seen_ it, after all, and so she didn't understand what this talk now was supposed to achieve.

"What about her memories?" Rose threw in, "I don't want her to live with memories of abuse and death for all eternity."

"They'll fade," Alice said.

"How do you know?" Rosalie yelled. She still had vivid memories of what had happened to her before she was changed, they had not faded in the least. Well, she had held onto them... otherwise she actually might have forgotten. But what if the girl held onto her dark memories?

"Rose, please calm yourself," Carlisle said to his agitated daughter and watched her until she regained her composure.

"If she is dying one way or the other, at least let us try and make her last days as comfortable as possible," Rose requested in a strained voice, then turned away from the others and left the room. She wasn't sure if she could watch Carlisle and Esme take the decision of being changed from the girl. Not even Rose herself could make up her mind what the right choice would be... she felt overwhelmed and completely stress out.

The rest of the family watched Rose leave, but agreed to what she said. It might lead the girl to open up to them and feel more at ease around them. Maybe it would give them an answer...

* * *

><p>"Hello there, honey. How do you feel?" Esme asked motherly and put a tray with French toast and a mug of tea on the bedside table.<p>

The girl just stirred a little bit, but Esme knew that she was definitely awake.

"Are you hurting?"

"Just tired," she slurred out.

"Have something to eat, dear, it'll make you feel better."

"Not hungry," she answered and coughed.

Esme was unhappy with that answer. And the coughing. The girl already looked pale and weak, she should at least try to eat now to regain a little strength.

"Come on, try a little bit. Appetite comes with eating," Esme smiled. "I made you French toast."

The girl opened one eye and indeed didn't look as reluctant as she had been before. She quickly warmed up to the idea of eating now, because it was French toast and it smelled heavenly. Her aunt had made the best French toast in the whole wide world for her, but after she passed away Maddie had never eaten it again. What was weird, though, was that maybe half an hour ago she had thought about her aunt and the time they'd spent together and how she had often consoled her... and now she was served this particular dish.

Esme cut off a piece of the toast, then speared it with the fork and broughtit to the girl's mouth, who accepted it hesitantly because she wasn't comfortable having someone feed her.

But it was really, _really_ good. A touch of cinnamon and dripping with maple syrup, and she had even put sprinkles on top of it! It looked and tasted exactly like she remembered it - maybe even better. It was the best comfort food - ridiculously sweet, sticky with syrup, and so damn good.

"Do you like it?" Esme asked. She already knew the girl would like it - Edward had dictated her in every detail how to prepare the food from the girl's mind.

"Hm-hm, it's perfect," she whispered teary-eyed while she chewed. She hadn't realised that she had missed it so much.

But as she didn't want to break down now and cry, she concentrated on watching Esme cut up her breakfast.

"Can I give you some more?"

The girl nodded.

Esme thoroughly enjoyed this moment - feeding the girl and seeing her eat made her happy. They sat there in comfortable silence; it didn't feel awkward or unpleasant to either one of them.

After the girl had swallowed the third forkful of food, Esme decided to start a light chat with her to test just how comfortable she was with her and, of course, because she wanted to get to know her.

"So, is it true? Your name is Madeline?" Esme asked casually while stirring the tea.

The girl deliberated whether to be honest about that or not. But this lady made damn good French toast, so she simply had to be a nice person that could be trusted, right?

She coughed. "It's Maddie," she corrected her.

A smile lit up Esme's face. "Maddie. I like that. Would you care for some tea, Maddie? I've put honey in it."

She nodded her head. "Thanks."

In the end she had finished half the toast and drank nearly all of the tea - Esme was satisfied.

"Rest now, I'll come in later," Esme told her while carrying the tray out of the room. When she reached the door, she looked back and asked, " Do you like hot chocolate? With little marshmallows maybe?"

"I do," Maddie replied sleepily and settled back into the soft pillows, sighing.

Esme beamed like a child on Christmas Day when she came down the stairs.

She put the dishes into the dishwasher and was so caught up in joy that she did not hear her husband approaching her from behind.

"How did it go?"

Esme jumped and turned around. "You scared me," she scolded, then slapped him lightly on the chest and kissed his lips.

"I apologise," he smirked and waited for her to answer his question.

"She ate and we talked a little. And she wants to be called Maddie, not Madeline," Esme explained, all the while smiling.

"That is wonderful, my love." Carlisle replied and let his hands run up and down Esme's arms.

"Maybe she'll open up to us now, wouldn't that be great?"

"It would be, yes. But please don't get your hopes up, darling. Her condition isn't stable and she is suffering from pneumonia. She might not be up to chatting," he replied, unintentionally dampening her spirits.

"I just want her to be comfortable," Esme whispered and lowered her gaze. Carlisle took a step towards his wife, embraced her in his arms and just held her.

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><p><strong> Your reviews make me happy, so be a sport and REVIEW!<strong>

** Thx.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey ... **

**I'm a little embarrassed that it took me forever to update this story! :-/ Oops. **

**But I have to be very careful while writing this so I can get everything right; I want it to make sense, after all. It has to explain why Maddie is the way she is (and why she isn't too fond of Jasper, for example!). But don't you worry, my dear readers, I'll concentrate more on this story now! I want to finish it soon, so I can finally post the school story I have written, yaaay! Because having three unfinished stories ... meh. I don't want that.**

**patz13: Awesome wish! See? You just have to make me write, haha! :D **

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><p>They really tried to accommodate the girl's needs to the fullest.<p>

Esme busied herself in the kitchen, cooking and baking all kinds of food, whereas Emmett drove into town to get pizza for Maddie after Edward had mentioned that she'd like it.

Whenever they asked her what she liked most - she got it.

But every time she ate, it wasn't much. She threw up nearly every time afterwards and it made her feel even weaker, which was why she stopped eating altogether and settled for drinking tea instead.

Then Edward caught one of the girl's thoughts that he thought might help them make her feel a little better. And so he sent Emmett into town to buy some Disney movies for the girl.

When she was little and caught a cold or the flu or was otherwise sick, her parents always let her watch these movies in bed.

It did make sense that she was thinking about that now. She was sick and weak and still so young... no wonder she felt alone right now and needed something familiar, something that would help her make the situation easier to endure. They were complete strangers to her and still hadn't explained what she was doing here. But would she seriously believe them when they tell her that Alice sees the future? Or that they were vampires?

Her condition had noticeably worsened over a short period - she was feverish and drifted in and out of sleep and since breathing became more and more difficult for her, the oxygen mask came back on.

She pulled it off while nobody was in the room with her, but somehow that Rose-girl must have sensed her doing it.

She stormed into the room and snapped, "Listen, little one, if you don't put it back on, I'll do it for you."

Maddie was easily startled in her condition, her sudden gasp for air brought a fit of coughing. She looked at Rose with wide eyes, then shook her head no.

Rose stalked over to where the girl was lying and picked up the mask, which Maddie had laid next to herself on the pillow, and held it in front of her face while asking, "Care to tell me why?"

"I... don't need it," she whispered as she tried to suppress a cough, but failed miserably.

"I see," Rose commented dryly and went to put it back over the girl's mouth and nose, but she held her hand up to keep her from doing just that.

"I don't want that."

"Too bad that I. don't. care," Rose said in a no-nonsense-voice and lightly slapped the girl's hand away before putting the mask back on.

When she pulled away, Maddie grabbed her by the wrist. The hold she had on her was far from strong, and the bandage kept her from curling her fingers all the way around Rose's wrist.

Rose looked down at Maddie's hand in wonderment, then up into her eyes.

"Help me."

Rosalie nearly did not catch what the girl had just said as her voice was incredibly weak and strained.

At a loss for words, Rose swallowed heavily. The girl looked pleading, desperate even.

"What do you mean? Are you hurting?" she asked worriedly after a moment of hesitation.

"Take me away from here, _help me_." Sheer desperation and fear underlined these words.

Rose pulled her hand from the girl's grasp; she looked unfazed, even though her eyes held worry... and maybe a little bit of anger, Maddie wasn't sure.

Rosalie bent down slowly, to whisper four certain words into her ear.

"You are safe here," she told her before she straightened up again.

Maddie shook her head slowly from side to side, her eyes never leaving Rose's.

"Do you want to get better?" Rosalie asked carefully after a moment of silence.

Maddie just stared at her, then eventually nodded her head yes.

"You wouldn't survive the trip, that is why you are staying here," Rose told her. She felt so bad for telling the girl something like that, but it was the truth. She just couldn't stand seeing her in this condition and then lie to her about it. She wouldn't get any better. But how many days she had left, nobody knew.

Maddie kept on staring at her before she coughed heavily again, which shook her whole frame.

When she could breathe again, she lifted her eyes back up at Rosalie, and suddenly tried to scoot over on the bed, closer to the wall and the window.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Rose asked, her hands hovering over Maddie to stop her or help her - she didn't know what. Was the girl scared of her now?

"For you," she managed to rasp out.

That took Rosalie by surprise and she also didn't quite understand.

Maddie noticed her confusion and therefore lifted her bandaged hand and pointed at the TV, which stood on a dresser at the other end of the room.

Rose guided her eyes in the direction Maddie pointed to and then understood what she meant.

Next to the TV lay a movie, one she hadn't seen before as they usually didn't watch kid's movies, but she figured that someone had bought it for her. And the girl obviously wanted to watch it and now invited her to stay.

That was odd.

She had just told the girl that she was close to _dying..._ and now she wanted her to keep her company?

Rosalie nodded her head, went over to the TV and switched it on. She put the DVD into the player and returned to the bed with the remote in her hand.

Putting some more pillows behind Maddie's back so she would have a better view and be more comfortable, Rose carefully sat next to her and started the movie.

A few minutes passed that they spent in silence watching the movie, when Maddie tentatively asked, "Why are you here?"

Rosalie took her eyes from the screen and looked at the girl, frowning. She had just asked her to stay, hadn't she? "I-... what do you mean?"

It was hard to speak without coughing, so Maddie settled for just whispering words, no sentences. "Adopted... why?"

Oh. "My parents died a while ago," she replied and was glad that she hadn't said 'My human parents' like she usually called them. That would have sounded weird...

"Sorry," Maddie said softly and gave her a look of commiseration.

Rose took a deep breath before speaking again. "Thank you. Time heals all wounds, it is getting easier to bear. You'll see."

Maddie shook her head no.

Rose frowned. "No?"

"No, my Dad... - it hurts," Maddie managed to say.

Being a little overwhelmed by her honesty, Rose tentatively reached out and started stroking her dark hair, hoping to comfort her that way. It was probably too soon to hug her as she had flinched a couple of times when somebody got too close to her. And with all the injuries she was suffering from, a hug might bring more pain than consolation.

When Maddie's breathing got calmer, Rose looked down and saw the girl being asleep. But nevertheless, she kept on stroking her hair affectionately.

Maddie woke twenty minutes later. At first she was startled to have somebody next to her, but then she sighed, a little smile playing on her lips.

* * *

><p>"That was interesting," Edward stated when Rosalie walked into the living room two hours later.<p>

Rosalie just nodded her head once, before seating herself next to her husband, leaning against him.

"So... what exactly happened up there?" Emmett asked, looking in between Rose and Edward.

Edward spoke again. "I think she is starting to trust Rose a little."

Rose stared straight ahead as if not being able to believe it herself what had just taken place upstairs in the girl's room. "I don't know why. I've told her she is going to die, and then she wanted me to stay with her."

"Woah, you've told her she's going to die?!" Emmett sat up straighter now and looked at his wife, disbelief prominent in his gaze. Well, he had said it to the girl, too, but it was meant as a joke. A very stupid joke, actually.

Rose tried to explain. "Emmett, you haven't seen her. She's getting worse."

"And then you tell her she's _dying_?" After Rose wanted them to make the girl's last days as comfortable as possible, she then went ahead and messed it all up by crushing the girl's hopes?

Rosalie just nodded her head; she seemed to be deep in thought.

"Then why on earth did she want you to stay if you told her something like that?"

"I really don't know."

But Edward did. "Rosalie was being honest, apparently she liked that."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Edward shrugged his shoulders.

"Woah, hold on for a sec. She lies her ass of every chance she gets, but wants others to be honest with her?" Emmett questioned. "Seriously?"

Rosalie rubbed her forehead. She sounded tired when she spoke. "Emmett, don't."

"What?" he asked.

Rose huffed, stood up and left the room - just like that.

"What?" he called again, sounding utterly confused.

Since Rose didn't answer, he looked cluelessly at his brother - his eyes were wide and he was clearly waiting for an answer.

"The lying is to protect herself."

"She doesn't need to lie then, she is safe here. I don't even get why she is afraid of Carlisle. He does everything he can to heal her and hasn't hurt her once."

"She is too weak. In case something would happen to her, she couldn't defend herself."

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><p>When Carlisle and Esme came back from their hunt, Edward briefed them about what happened at home during their absence.<p>

"Oh, she watched the movie? Did she like it?" Esme asked with a smile and felt how she got excited about the good news.

"Yes, she enjoyed it very much, even though she fell asleep several times," Edward told his parents.

Esme had missed the girl, but was glad that Maddie had had a good day and enjoyed herself.

She couldn't stop smiling. "Maybe she would like to watch another one tomorrow, don't you think?"

Edward ignored her question and went on. "Rosalie bore her company during the movie."

"Thank you, Rosalie, that was very kind of you," Esme praised while turning slightly to look at Rose, who was currently sitting on the couch reading.

"She asked me to stay, so I was content to remain with her," Rosalie explained.

Carlisle and Esme raised their eyebrows at that.

"She asked you to stay? Well, that is fabulous!" Carlisle was overwhelmed by these great news.

"Yes, after she told Madeline that she wouldn't survive if she didn't stay here," Edward clarified. He didn't say it to blame Rose or to sound accusing, but to show their parents what caused the girl to want Rose's company.

Now their faces fell.

"Rosalie!" Esme gasped. "Why would you say something like that to a little girl?" She sounded absolutely shocked.

"At least one of us should be honest with her, don't you think, Mother?" Rosalie spat, then stood up and left the room.

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><p><strong>What do you think? Tell me in your REVIEW! <strong>

**Next chapter will be up in a couple of days, so stay tuned! **


	11. Chapter 11

** Aaaahhh! Next update!**

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><p>In the morning of the next day, Esme entered Maddie's room and brought her something warm to drink.<p>

She had heard her wake and therefore hurried upstairs to see how she was feeling and to keep her company, of course.

"Good morning!" Esme said cheerfully, skipping the question of how she was feeling because she immediately saw that she didn't look too good.

The mask on her face made her look just as sick as she was. She was pale, very pale, and had dark rings under her eyes.

Crackling and rattling noises in her lungs were clearly audible when she breathed - they didn't need a stethoscope to hear it.

"You liked that movie, dear?" Esme asked and pointed at the DVD lying next to the TV.

Maddie nodded. "Lucky you had this one," she croaked and seemed to have trouble keeping her eyes open for long.

"Indeed," Esme smiled.

Indeed my ass. They bought it the moment Edward read her thoughts to find out what movies, what food and what music she liked most.

"Why am I here?" she managed to say while Esme was parting the drapes to let more light in.

Esme turned around and looked at her, pondering about what to say.

She settled for a reassuring smile first, then said, "So we can keep you safe, dear."

Maddie felt foggy-brained due to the fever and the medication and therefore had a hard time concentrating. "I don't feel safe," she managed to say.

"It's all right, sweetie, you'll get better soon," Esme said in what she thought to be a reassuring voice before she approached her. She made to put a hand on the girl's head, but Maddie flinched.

Esme quickly retracted her hand again, looking troubled about the girl moving away from her motherly touch.

"Esme?"

She turned her head and saw Carlisle standing in the doorway. It dawned on Esme that her husband's presence might be the reason for Maddie's reaction.

She nodded at him, then left the room for a moment to find out what he wanted to talk about.

She came back in a moment later. "Maddie? Don't be scared of Carlisle," she said carefully as well as soothingly, while she approached the girl once more.

Maddie looked at Esme and her eyes were unblinking.

"He won't hurt you, I promise. He would never hurt you. But you need to let him give you more antibiotics right now, all right?"

Maddie shook her head. She didn't want him near her, no matter what Esme said. And the stuff they gave her made her nauseous and drowsy, so why should she let them give her even more?

Esme tilted her head slightly before a smile lit up her face as an idea struck her. "How about Rose injects it while Carlisle watches? Would that be all right?"

She shook her head.

"But you really need antibiotics to get better. You'll be as good as new in a little while, you'll see."

Maddie blinked her eyes wearily, then rasped out a weak 'Okay'.

Rosalie entered just moments later, giving the girl an encouraging smile.

"It won't hurt, you still have your vein catheter," she said and pointed to Maddie's bandaged hand.

Carlisle walked in with his bag in hand and placed it on the dresser by the door.

Taking a little bottle and a syringe out, he prepared everything for the injection.

Rose took it from him and fulfilled the task, blocking Carlisle from Maddie's view in the process so she wouldn't get overly nervous.

She handed her father the empty syringe, then straightened up.

At that moment Maddie tensed because she hadn't heard Carlisle approach them... but he was suddenly right behind Rose.

Esme looked uneasy - it pained her that she was not able to calm the girl.

But luckily Rosalie was there. "I'll stay with you," she offered, nodding her head at the sick girl.

Maddie visibly relaxed at her words.

So that was how it was going to be.

"Let her take the mask off so she can drink some tea, Rosalie," Esme told her daughter and rubbed her shoulder.

Carlisle put some more medication on the dresser - a cough reliever and something antifebrile.

Then he and Esme left the room, leaving Rose to help the girl.

Rose immediately offered her some tea, but she obviously had a better idea... she wanted to talk.

She just stared at Rose at first, but then croaked, "You're pretty."

"So are you," Rosalie responded.

Maddie reluctantly looked down at herself, at her plastered arm and her torso, and knew that underneath the pyjama she was wearing, bruises and scars were blemishing her body. She wrinkled her nose.

"Nobody feels pretty when sick, don't worry."

It was a little weird that the girl started openly talking to her just now, Rose thought, as she hadn't been very interested in that before. But Rosalie realised just how lonely the poor thing must feel here. She must have sensed that she was in a condition that was probably not going to improve, so she had nothing to lose now.

Well, Rosalie had to admit that she was indeed curious and she also couldn't shake the feeling that Maddie needed to talk.

So she plucked up the courage to just ask about something she hadn't yet understood. "Why did you go back to your family? It was the day of the fire, wasn't it?" She knew that the girl had been mistreated at home, so why would she willingly return?

Maddie coughed to clear her throat. "My brother."

"Your brother? He was still a baby, wasn't he?"

Maddie nodded her head, looking sad.

"Did you come back because you hadn't seen him before?"

She nodded her head again, then whispered, "Not safe."

Rosalie had no trouble guessing what that meant. Maddie wasn't able to form full sentences, the medication was making her drowsy, as well as the high fever, but the answer was still clear enough. "You came back home because _he_ wasn't safe there?"

Maddie nodded weakly before closing her eyes.

Rose stayed with her while she slept... she didn't want her to wake up all alone.

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><p>"You have finished all your tea, would you like some more?" Esme asked after sending Rose upstairs to choose some music for the child to listen to.<p>

Maddie nodded her head, and wanted to thank her - she had manners, after all - but couldn't get the words out due to her breathing.

"Shush, sweetie, don't speak. I'll be right back."

Esme was back in less than two minutes. It normally wouldn't have taken that long, but Edward told the family that the girl noticed some things.

Like, how quick they were and that she never heard any footsteps before somebody knocked on the door or barged right in. Okay, everything was carpet, but she never heard anything. The house was also way to silent. There were seven people living in this household, right? And five of them were teenagers...

But the weirdest thing of all: Why was she here? Why did they have things like this oxygen apparatus at home? Why were they being nice to her? And what the fuck was wrong with their eyes? Was the tap water contaminated or something?

* * *

><p>"Edward, are you kidding me? <em>'As I Lay Dying'<em>?!" Rosalie asked, sounding outraged, as she held a CD under her brother's nose.

"She likes that band."

Rosalie threw it behind Edward. "Take it away, she certainly likes other bands, too. Handing her a CD of a band with that name seems more than just ghoulish at the moment."

"If you say so," he replied and rolled his eyes.

"Why do you even have such crude music in your collection?" she asked with distaste in her voice.

"It is a _music collection_," he retorted, making his answer sound as if he thought Rose was dense.

In the end they had made a little pile of CDs for her to listen to while they would be hunting.

Maddie smelled good, but not overly tempting, what with all the medication pumped into her system. That was good, because she was staying in their house and they didn't want to drain her. But in order to not risk anything, it was high time for them to go and quench the thirst.

Esme and Carlisle had hunted yesterday, so it was the children's turn today.

Rosalie felt uneasy leaving the girl, but she would try to hurry. Besides, Esme would still be home so she could care for Maddie while she herself couldn't.

Maddie chose a CD from the pile and Rose put it into the CD player for her. Handing her the remote, she said, "Here, take that so you can switch it off if you'd like to sleep."

Maddie answered with a nod.

"Now, I have to leave for a while, so leave the mask there, I mean it. Esme made you some soup in hopes you like it. Just ring the bell on the bedside table whenever you feel hungry. But she'll check on you soon, anyway."

Maddie stared at her with her big green eyes, but eventually nodded her head.

"I won't be gone for long," Rosalie promised and rubbed Maddie's upper arm comfortingly before she left the room and then the house with her husband and her siblings.

Still lying in the bed because she was too weak to get up, Maddie enjoyed the music, even though she didn't quite hear all of it. It sounded a bit fuzzy to her.

After a while she got uncomfortable and wanted to pull a pillow out from under her head, so she tried to roll onto her side and reached back.

That was when she suddenly felt pressure beneath her left chest. It hurt somehow, and then breathing got even harder.

What was happening?

Maybe the mask wasn't working like it should anymore as she couldn't breathe properly and so she pulled the respiratory mask off her face.

The air in the room seemed stuffy now and she was feeling way too hot in her bed with the thick blanket.

But the bed stood right under a window; she would just need to sit up and scoot over to the end of it to open it, then she could let some fresh air in.

Deciding that that was what she was going to do, she carefully sat up. She was already starting to get a bit dizzy, so she slid to the end of the bed to open the window before it would get worse. Getting up on her knees, Maddie could reach the window catch and grabbed it. Opening the window with some difficulties - her left arm was in a cast up to her shoulder, after all - she succeeded in the end.

The crisp air felt good against her overheated skin and she took a deep breath, feeling more pressure in her ribcage now. But she lost some of the dizziness, which was good.

Being able to fully enjoy the sight of the snow-covered landscape from this position now, Maddie decided to sit on the windowsill for a moment... snow was something she had always loved so much.

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><p>In the meantime, Esme and Carlisle sat in the living room, talking about their further course of action.<p>

"Carlisle, she won't get better, will she?" she asked hesitantly, but already knew the answer just from looking at the girl and noticing how her breathing had gotten worse.

"I don't think so," he admitted.

Esme buried her face in her hands.

Carlisle rubbed her back, trying to comfort his wife as best as he could. "It was clear from the beginning, love. It is what Alice has seen, after all."

"I still thought she would have a chance," she replied in a strained voice, feeling like they had failed this young human girl.

"I thought so, too. But she was already in poor health before the fire, her immune system is weakened."

Esme said up straighter then, determination in her voice. "Let us tell her. Let us tell her about Alice and us and give her a choice."

"We could wait for Rosalie to come back home. She might listen to her," Carlisle mused.

"But what if she doesn't? Then she wouldn't even trust her anymore. Can we risk that?"

He sighed. "Well, I certainly cannot be the one to tell her. She won't let me near her and I don't wish to cause her anymore distress."

"It is breaking my heart every time I see her panicking in your presence. I don't even want to imagine what this girl must have experienced that she reacts that way..."

"Calm yourself, darling. We-" Carlisle did not get to finish, because a loud thud from outside startled them both and they felt immediately alarmed.

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><p><strong>What's going to happen next, huh?<strong>

**REVIEW and let me know what you think! **


	12. Chapter 12

** Read! Read! Read! :D **

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><p>During their hunt, Alice suddenly stopped running. She went rigid and was completely absorbed in her current vision.<p>

"Alice?" Jasper asked and held his wife by her upper arms to steady her - just in case.

She remained unmoving and Edward came to a stop next to them. He leaned with his back against a tree, his eyes wide open in surprise as he watched his sister's latest vision in his mind.

It unnerved Jasper not knowing what they were seeing, all he could feel was Edward's bafflement but that didn't help in finding out what was going on.

When Alice's blank stare turned focussed again however, she looked directly into her mate's eyes.

"What is happening?" he asked in a concerned tone of voice and bent down a little to be on eye level with his tiny pixie wife.

She just covered her mouth with one of her little hands and leaned against him, not knowing if she was supposed to be happy or sad.

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><p>Carlisle and Esme looked at each other questioningly when they heard the noise outside.<p>

Where the children back from their hunt already?

But when no other sound could be heard after a moment of silence, they stood up from the couch.

"Carlisle...," Esme uttered quietly as an uneasy feeling built up in the pit of her stomach.

Together they ran to the front door, wrenched it open and instantly froze in terror.

Esme gasped, covering her mouth with both her hands in shock and fear. Her eyes were impossibly wide as she stood there, unable to move or breath or speak.

There, in the middle of the driveway, lay the girl in a slowly enlarging pool of blood.

It oozed from her temple and her nose, mouth and ears and she was obviously unconscious.

On her pyjama jacket a blood stain formed as well, her broken ribs must have pushed through the skin. And judging by her breathing, they had injured the membrane that surrounds the lungs, as well. Her skin looked bluish and the cast around her arm held a visible crack.

Carlisle was with her immediately, scanning over the wounds, listening for her heartbeat and her weakened breathing.

He looked up at Esme.

She was still in a state of shock, standing in the doorway, hands held over her mouth and eyes wide.

Lifting Maddie up in his arms, he approached his wife. "Don't breathe," he ordered while he rushed past her and into the living room to lay her down on the couch.

Her heartbeat got weaker by the second.

Esme unfroze then, having finally comprehended what was happening before her very eyes. She turned around and hurried after her husband and the invisible trail of fresh, hot blood.

"Can you help her?" she whispered with bleary eyes, while she watched him checking the girl's head wound and her eyes.

He glanced at for a brief moment.

"No," he replied, even though actually answering her question was completely unnecessary as the look in his eyes had already told Esme how the girl's chances were. "The base of her skull is fractured, her left lung has collapsed and the thorax is quickly filling with blood."

Esme looked away, pressing her lips together tightly.

Carlisle spoke again. "We need to make a decision."

"Save her." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Are you sure?"

She turned around and their darkened eyes met, searching for the final affirmation in the other ones eyes.

"_Save her_," Esme urged as tears formed in her eyes, "before her heart stops beating."

He nodded once before smoothing Maddie's dark hair away from her neck, exposing it. He took one last, deep breath before tilting his head forwards and sinking his sharp teeth into the tender skin of her neck, effectively poisoning her with his venom.

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><p>Rosalie and Emmett had quickly found a moose to drain and now waited a little further away for their siblings to feed.<p>

Luckily neither of them had witnessed Alice having a vision.

Well, it did happen a lot, but the timing would have unnerved Rose, as well as the looks on her siblings' faces.

Not even half an hour after Alice had received the unnerving vision, they were all satisfied and on their way home.

That was when Rose sensed that something wasn't right... she had a queasy feeling about going home.

The feeling became more prominent when all of a sudden a faint smell wafted towards them and the closer they got to the house, the stronger the scent got.

Rose took off at full speed just then, her siblings and husband following close behind.

Rounding the house to get to the front yard, she then found the source of the smell.

A dark, wet stain was visible on their paved driveway; a little trail of the liquid had turned some of the snow framing the driveway a faint red colour.

Rose guided her eyes up to the second story of the house and saw that the window of Maddie's room was wide open.

Now that explained the uneasy feeling earlier.

Running into the house as quickly as possible, she frantically looked around. "Esme?" she called, then found her and Carlisle in the living room.

Her mate and siblings walked in after her, but neither said a word.

"Wh-" Rose started to ask, but the word caught in her throat.

Esme sat on the armrest of the couch, while Carlisle stood in front of it with one arm wrapped around his torso, while his other one was propped up to hold

his chin in his hand. They both stared down at the seating surface of the couch.

Rosalie gasped.

The girl was lying there on the white couch, her eyes closed and her entire body shaking. Her clothes were bloodstained.

The plaster cast, that had previously been encasing her arm, was lying off to the side.

Rose could neither move nor speak. She just stood there, stiff as a statue, and stared at the girl and the dark, wet stains of the blood on the pyjama.

"Rose," Carlisle said and took a step towards her, but she immeditely held a hand up to stop him. She blinked her eyes a couple of times to process what she was seeing here, but never looked away from the girl.

"What happened," she asked in a voice that held no emotion.

"We found her lying outside, she must have fallen," Carlisle explained.

"Did she fall or did she jump?" Rose queried, still looking at him.

"She fell-" Esme answered, but couldn't speak any further, because Rose interrupted her immediately.

"Did she _fall_ or did she _jump_?!" Rose demanded to know, fiercer now, as if her question hadn't been answered the first time.

"Rosalie, I am fairly sure that she fell, ju-" Carlisle started, but his daughter didn't let him speak any further.

"You are _fairly_ sure?!" she hissed, not even bothering to let him finish.

"Rose, come," Emmett walked up to her and gently pulled at her arm to take her to the adjoining room where she could calm down, but she quickly shook him off while still glaring at her father.

Carlisle sighed and raked a hand through his blonde, dishevelled hair. "There wasn't much time. We had to make a decision or it would have been too late... we couldn't wait for you."

"For _me_? It is not my decision to make! It would have been _hers_! But you didn't want to tell her why you brought her here!"

"We wanted to tell her, we were talking about it when it happened," Esme remarked.

Rosalie scoffed at that. "A little too late."

Jasper stepped forward then, trying to diffuse the situation by letting Carlisle explain what happened. Knowing the facts might calm Rose, after all. "What injuries did she have?"

"The basal skull fracture was the most prominent injure due to her fall. Cerebrospinal fluid and blood were already leaking from the wound on her temple, as well as from her nose, mouth and ears when we found her. Her broken ribs have pierced through her skin, penetrating her pleura as well. Judging by the condition she was in before you left, I couldn't have successfully treated her injuries. She was losing too much blood and it was funnelling into her torso. And because she was bedridden for the last few days, I had given her anticoagulant medication, which unfortunately made her current injuries bleed heavier. Her left lung had collapsed as a result of the perforation caused by her broken ribs. Her skin was already of a blueish colour due to a lack of oxygen in her blood... she was suffocating."

Heavy silence filled the room when Carlisle was finished.

"Would you have let her die, Rose?" he calmly asked his eldest daughter.

Rosalie didn't say anything when she left the room. She just walked up the stairs and hesitated for a moment before opening the door to the room the girl had been staying in.

The window was still open, letting in cold, fresh air, and she walked over and closed it.

She lifted the oxygen mask up and held it in her hands while staring at it, before putting it on top of the respirator and pushing it away.

The blanket on the bed was rumpled, the pillows as well, so she made the bed. It wasn't necessary and it didn't even make sense, but nevertheless, she made the bed.

Next to the pillows she found the remote of the CD-player and took it in hand.

The CD had already stopped playing, so she turned around and switched the player off, laying the remote next to it.

She didn't know what to do then.

Sitting down on the bed and burying her face in her hands, she remained like that until Emmett found her.

"Rose," he said softly when he seated himself next to her, immediately putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing her on the temple. "Nobody is certain if this was the right decision. But a decision had to be made."

Rose lifted her head, only to stare straight ahead while answering, "I shouldn't have gone hunting. I should have stayed with her... she was scared."

"We all had to hunt in order to not endanger her. And you remember in what condition she was in; she would have died one way or the other, only slower and more painful." Emmett tried to console his mate, rubbing her back lovingly while speaking.

"She didn't have a choice."

"Come on, even if we had talked to her, she probably wouldn't have believed us. Edward said that she could barely concentrate anymore and was drowsy almost all the time. Do you think she could have made a decision like that?"

Rose didn't say anything, just looked down at her folded hands.

"Look, this is a new chance for her. We don't need to keep secrets from her anymore when she wakes up. Then we'll just explain everything and see how it goes from there."

She looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. Emmett made it sound so easy, but Rose knew that it would be anything but that when she would wake.

"What?" Emmett asked when she just looked at him. "We cannot change it now. It's _done_. She'll wake up in a couple of days and be a kick-ass newborn. End of story."

"I'll go clean her up," Rose said and got up from the bed, looking and sounding exhausted.

She left the room and made her way downstairs to check on the girl that would soon be an aggressive, snarling, very much disturbed newborn vampire.

Esme had a washcloth in her hand and wiped at Maddie's face to get the crusted blood off. The wound on her temple looked nasty and her hair was matted with drying blood. At least her skin was pale again and not disgustingly bluish like before - she was slowly changing.

Esme looked up when Rose entered.

"I didn't want her to wake up looking like this. She'll be confused enough as it is," Esme explained in her soft voice, but stopped wiping at the child's face to wait for Rosalie's reaction. She could imagine how Rose must be feeling now.

Rose had been against bringing the girl home, she had been against treating her and she especially had been against turning her. And then, when she met the girl for the first time, she couldn't help but feel concerned. That was what troubled Rose so much - she had started to care about her. And the fact that Maddie didn't dislike her as much as the rest of the family, didn't help either.

Rose nodded and went to the bathroom to retrieve a basin with warm water along another washcloth to help her mother.

When she came back, she unbuttoned Maddie's pyjama top to clean the traces of blood on the ribcage.

Clearing her throat while wiping at the blood around the wounds on the girl's torso, she suggested in an oddly detached voice, "We could take her upstairs later, the couch is stained."

"I'll go change the sheets in a moment," Esme answered.

Both women were glad to have something to do. Cleaning the girl and changing the sheets would keep them occupied for a short while.

Luckily Maddie was still unconscious and therefore had not noticed the several bites Carlisle had inflicted on her. The venom had not started healing her wounds yet, but they had stopped bleeding.

It helped them to see that she wasn't consciously enduring the beginning of the change... but soon she would feel the excruciating fire in her veins.

The moment her brain would be healed enough to comprehend the pain, she would suffer.

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	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys!**

**Oh, the last chapter was a bit of a shock, wasn't it? **

**I had some qualms about finishing the poor girl off, but unfortunately: This is how the story goes and the show must go on!**

**Now enjoy :-D **

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><p>Rose continued to clean up the girl. The head wound was the most trying, as the blood was sticky in her hair. To get it all out, she had to change the water several times - it turned a dirty reddish brown after just several dips.<p>

In the meantime, Esme busied herself in Maddie's room - she put fresh sheets on the bed and just cleaned the whole room. Alice searched through the closet and chose an outfit to change her into while she was still unconscious. They couldn't let her wake in dirty, blood-crusted pyjamas, now could they?

Their biggest worry, however, was how to let her in on their secret, which would be also be her secret in the near future when she would wake up.

Well, it would be easier to explain now since she was changing into one of them. But how would a young girl take the news?

And who would be the one doing all the explaining?

Carlisle was experienced as he had performed that task four times already. But the problem was, that the girl feared and loathed him at the same time.

Would she stand his presence long enough to really listen?

Hopefully she would see him differently once she would wake.

They didn't know if she would consciously experience the change; therefore they couldn't tell her what creatures they were during that time.

It would be peculiar if she wouldn't feel the pain, but it wasn't unheard of. Alice, for example, had no memory of this most excruciating sensation. Due to Maddie's age and her past experiences, that scenario would be preferable.

Maybe it was best to let her wake slowly then, to let her realise that she would becompletely healed and physically stronger now. Then they could explain to her why her throat was burning and how they could help her change that.

Apart from the unfamiliar feeling in her throat and her new vision, she would also notice the poor quality of her human memories.

They would be quite blurry, but even then they would still be most helpful to clear up the mystery of her untimely death.

Did she fall or did she jump?

Carlisle and Esme were certain she fell, or at least that was what they were saying.

Esme was more than likely just hoping that it was that way. She was aware of the possibility that they could be the reason for the girl's attempted suicide, if that was indeed what happened. How could she ever forgive herself having driven a child to commit such an act of desperation?

Maddie was changing now and didn't die... but she could have. And what amount of distress would she feel then when she realised that these people were her new family?

Carlisle had a simple reason why he thought she fell. He said that considering the colour of her skin, she must have had trouble breathing while still in her room, before her fall. And she probably fell due to losing consciousness. There was still the little spark of a doubt that she sensed her imminent death and therefore decided to end her life quickly by jumping instead of slowly suffocating. What the true reason was, they did not know.

Rosalie, more than the rest of the family, had a hard time accepting what was happening to the girl now.

She was usually successful in keeping her emotions hidden and she cared little about others, let alone humans. But the denying behaviour of the girl reminded her a little of herself after the change. She had been abused and felt betrayed, then instead of dying she got taken away - her fate lying in some stranger's hands.

Their stories seemed similar, just showing a different chronological order.

Rose agonised over the girl's future.

How would she deal with it? Would she be able to relate to their secretive behaviour after they explained everything? And would she be open to making a new start and getting to know them all?

Would she be willing to get to know Carlisle, the person she was scared of because she had been too weak to defend herself?

She would be even stronger than Emmett after waking up... would it help her trusting others, since she had the safety of her physical strength on her side? Or would she hate them even more for inflicting the pain of the change and forcing this new kind of life on her?

What would she think about being a vampire? Would she be glad that she was finally invincible and able to live a more or less regular life now? Or was she due to the many losses in her life just sick of it? Would her memories crush her, taint her lust for living?

It was unforeseeable how this young girl would be dealing with the situation inflicted on her.

Alice wasn't able to help much, either. She said that Maddie would be confused after waking, be torn between anger and panic... which was to be expected as every single newborn went through that at first.

They all were dreading the moment she would feel the change in her body, the feeling of her veins being burnt dry.

When the venom had tainted her blood, Carlisle didn't even have time to inject morphine - that was how little the time frame had been. They knew from Emmett's change that even if he had injected it, it wouldn't have had the chance to spread.

They were still hoping against hope that the pain medication she got that morning might still have a little effect and keep her from feeling the whole impact. It was possible that the medication would be able to take the edge off, but that were just speculations - nobody knew for sure.

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><p>"Her bruises are gone," Alice remarked while taking Maddie's pyjama jacket off.<p>

Rose nodded her head. She had spent quite a while cleaning the child of all traces of blood, and now they wanted to get her changed into something clean. Thankfully the trembling had stopped as it was easier to dress her that way.

"Oh, but the scars are still there," she said disappointedly and grimaced. Alice had never witnessed somebody change from human to vampire, and because of that, she was watching curiously.

"They'll go away next, I'm sure," Rosalie replied in a faint voice and unfolded the T-Shirt Alice had brought down from the big closet in Maddie's room. Funny enough, it was filled with lots of clothes in her size, but she hadn't known anything about it during the whole time she had been staying in said room.

Would it freak her out even more to know that they had planned her arrival for several months now? Or would it reassure her, show her that this family had been waiting in gleeful anticipation until they could finally pick her up and take her home?

Alice and Rose dressed her and they were quite happy with the result. Hopefully she would like it, too.

"Carlisle? Can we take the bandage off her hand?" Alice suddenly called.

He walked in at the very moment, saying, "The catheter I took out earlier. We can take the bandage off now, I think. She'll heal soon."

Unwrapping the gauze from the girl's hand, they could still see the redness on her palm, where she had reached out for a blazing hot doorknob. The skin looked better, not blistered and raw anymore.

"The room is ready now, I have put fresh linen on the bed." Esme stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding onto the banister and looking tense.

"Let us take her upstairs then," Carlisle replied and gently picked the young girl up with one arm under her knees and the other one supporting her back; her head tilted to the side and leaned against his chest.

Alice and Rosalie followed him while he carried her up the stairs - they left a badly stained couch behind.

Once in her room, Carlisle carefully put her down on the bed before straightening up again and taking a step back, never taking his eyes off her.

Lying there on the bed she looked almost peaceful - like a sleeping child.

But was she sleeping?

Was something beautiful as sleep possible while undergoing the agonising transformation from living to dead?

How long would this dubious blessing last?

For hours and hours they stared at her unmoving form, torn between relief and alarm.

It was late afternoon the next day when she stirred for the first time.

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><p><strong>I'm not having much time to write at the moment, even though the story is completely clear in my head. <strong>

**I have just typed the next chapter, but I cannot upload right now. It's probably still too crappy :-/ **

**Just give me... two days.**

**Oh, before I forget: REVIEW please! Tell me what you think!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you for your reviews, my dear readers! **

**And here is the next chapter, like I promised!**

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><p>It took a while for Maddie to recognise the pain.<p>

She slowly reached consciousness, but couldn't quite decipher what she was feeling. Over time, however, she got aware of the fact that it was pain, white-hot pain to be precise, that burned through her veins and set her whole body on fire.

She wasn't able to feel anything else and couldn't concentrate on anything else.

Her first reaction was screaming.

It was impossible to hold back and it didn't make the pain worse. She didn't even notice at first, but when she heard something, she realised that it was herself, screaming at the top of her voice.

While she thrashed around on the bed, she felt a pull on her hand.

She wasn't alone, which was odd.

Someone was holding her hand - she could feel the distinct pressure and coldness around her fingers.

Every inch of her skin felt like it was on fire, but the ice-cold hand didn't make it any better. Why?

In between screams, Maddie could hear a voice. "_Shh, I know it hurts, but you're healing. You'll feel better soon._"

It made her even more panicky, until she realised that it was a female voice.

A voice she had heard before... somewhere, sometime.

Maddie tried to open her eyes, to see the person with the kind voice, but she didn't know how.

Her whole mind was dominated by the sheer torture that was keeping her body prisoner.

"_You're healing,_" the voice said again, "_you are getting better._"

But Maddie didn't feel like she was healing or getting better anytime so. But at least it couldn't get any worse, because this already felt like the limit. Never in her life had she felt pain to that degree - and she knew pain, both physically and emotionally.

But why didn't she pass out? Why couldn't she pass out from this intensity of pain?

The hand didn't let go of her. She somehow felt something rubbing over the back of her hand, a thumb, and she tried to concentrate on the soothing gesture.

There... the back of her hand... there had been something else before. Something had been wrong with her hand before... a needle, maybe.

It had been kept in place by something white, yes. Or it had been there, as well.

Trying to think about what had happened to her was her haven now in the seemingly endless hell she was enduring.

Her hand... what had happened to her hand before? Moving had hurt, but not like this.

"_You're healing, you're alive._" Maddie heard being said.

_Why wouldn't she be alive?_

Or better yet: _How much longer would she be alive?_ The torture didn't seem to end, but her body had to collapse sometime, she was hoping it would. Death didn't seem scary at that moment - no, it seemed peaceful instead.

Why would you dread something that would grant you blissful nothingness? That would make your suffering go away until nothing was left?

"_You're healing._"

Healing? How could this pain mean healing? Heal what? What was going on?

"_You're healing._" It chanted over and over.

Maddie had obviously stopped screaming, she didn't know, but then she heard another voice.

"_Rose? Come on, you need to take a break._"

_Rose?_ She was sure that she had heard that name before, it sounded familiar.

"_I'm staying with her._"

"_Please, just for a moment, you've been in here for far too long. I'll watch her for you. Please, Rose._"

She felt the hand squeezing hers once, then it was suddenly gone.

Maddie couldn't reach out to get the comfort back, even though she wanted to - but she didn't know how will her body to move.

With the hand gone, the pain seemed more prominent and it drove her insane.

It was like losing touch with reality. That small connection - somebody holding her hand - had been helpful to her, even though it didn't eliminate the pain.

"_Just for a moment._" The female voice sounded wary, as if waiting for affirmation.

"_Yes._" The different voice was closer now. And it sounded deep, too deep for a female voice.

"_Hey there._" Maddie heard the creak of wood next to her... maybe a chair? "_You'll get better, it just takes some time. Um, luckily you have missed a whole day of this... ordeal._"

The deep voice was male, definitely. Was he trying to confuse her? Why had she missed a whole day? A day of _what_?

When she felt a hand touch her forearm, she flinched and screamed again.

She had no idea who he was or what he wanted - and she didn't want to find out. Hopefully he had mercy on her and would either leave her alone or put her out of her misery.

"_Oh my God, please don't cry! Aaaah, don't cry, don't cry, shh, um... let me sing you a song. Um._" He didn't sound mean, but utterly startled and nervous.

"_Emmett._"

_Who?_

But at least the nice voice was back.

Light footsteps came towards her. "_It's okay, I'll stay with her._"

"_Rose-_"

"_Go!_"

Maddie's hand was being pulled to the side, and a cold hand was touching it again. It was like before, the thumb stroking the back of her hand.

Slowly, but steadily.

Maddie stopped screaming, and panted for breath instead.

"_Sshh, he didn't mean to scare you. He wasn't here to hurt you, but to keep you company while you get better. The pain will fade and go away completely, I promise._"

Maddie listened. She liked the sound of that, but didn't feel like it would come true.

"_You are changing, Maddie._"

She didn't understand what that meant, but she recognised her name.

This person _knew_ her, and she knew this person.

"_You're healing._" The person said. "_And I won't leave your side, all right? Not anymore. I'll stay with you, I'll watch you. Nobody will come near you, you hear?_"

There was a little feeling of relief now. Relief that, while she was enveloped in pain and helplessness, a person would keep her from being at the mercy of someone. Even though it couldn't get worse than this, she didn't want to be used or something disgusting like that.

Hours later... or was it minutes?... Maddie heard a clicking sound and then footsteps approaching.

But the hand didn't go away.

"_She's changing._" A voice, higher than the nice one, said. It was nice, too, just as melodic, but nevertheless different.

"_Yes. How much longer, Alice?_"

Alice? She had heard that name before as well.

"_I'm not sure. It is not snowing when she wakes, and it'll be daytime._"

When it was silent again, more screams escaped Maddie's throat. She desperately needed something to focus on.

"_Have you told her about us?_"

"_I'm not even sure if she understands a word I say. I know that it calms her... she doesn't scream as much._"

"_Try it, tell her,_" Alice encouraged.

"_How?_"

"_... or Esme and Carlisle tell her._"

"_No! I don't want Carlisle in here as long as she is changing. When she wakes and has her full strength, then yes._"

_Who? _

"_Why do you want it to be that way?_"

"_She should realise first that nothing will happen to her. I just don't want her to be scared again,_" Rose explained.

"_Carlisle is sorry for her pain, he would like to come up and explain to her. Her pain is torturing him, too, you see._"

"_So? He has done enough already. And neither his presence nor his sympathy will make her heal quicker, so he can as well stay away._" The nice voice, Rose's voice, had taken a bitter edge to it.

"_It's so interesting, isn't it? The bruises are gone, and she has moved her arm. It's not broken anymore._" The new voice sounded oddly admiring and fascinated.

Why, Maddie did not know.

"_Yes, she's healing. You'll be completely healed, Maddie, you hear?_" Rose's voice was soft and kind again.

"_Tell her why, I want to see how she reacts to that._"

"_Alice..._"

"_Oh, come on! Just try it, she'll see for herself soon. Tell her._"

Rose sighed. "_Maddie? Listen closely. When you wake, you won't feel pain anymore. You will feel different. Stronger and faster than you have ever been._" Then, after a little break, Maddie heard Rosalie speak again, but it wasn't directed at her. "_Why are you smiling, Alice?_"

"_Because she is listening. Aren't you, Maddie? Squeeze Rose's hand if you are._"

Every part of Maddie's body felt exactly the same due to the pain. But she knew where her hand was; she could locate it, because it was being held by a different hand. She tried to squeeze, several times, tried to get her hand to move... and then it finally worked.

Maddie could hear a gasp and a squeal, both at the same time coming from beside her, making her frown.

"_I have to tell Esme immediately! She is so worried, you wouldn't believe it. Oh my god, she is listening! Her brain is healed!_" was being exclaimed by Alice, before quick, tapping footsteps ran out of the room again.

She heard a shifting noise next to her and then the hand squeezed hers. "_That was Alice. You remember Alice?_"

Maddie didn't react, she was still thinking about the words being said. Her brain is healed? What exactly happened to her? Her bruises are gone, her arm isn't broken anymore and _her brain is healed_?

Slowly, very slowly, Maddie tried to think around the pain and even succeeded, because pictures appeared in her mind.

She saw lifeless people, and a window... yes, a window. There was a lot of snow, it was snowing and she remembered music.

Rose chose that moment of silence to give Maddie a little more information. "_You were unconscious before. You... fell and hurt yourself. But you are healing now. You will be as strong as the rest of us, even stronger._"

Maddie didn't understand.

"_We are different than other people, and you will be, too. Don't be scared by what I'll tell you now, but... we are not human._"

That confused Maddie - she could feel her forehead wrinkling as a reaction to the words being said.

"_You won't be human either anymore when the pain fades to nothing. Everything will be different, but I'll help you. We all had to go through this, the change, the pain, the confusion. It'll get better once you wake. I'm probably doing a very bad job at explaining right now, my apologies, but you'll see for yourself soon enough what I mean._"

Silence.

"_Endure it. I know it's hard, but you can do it. You're strong enough for this._"

The words where supposed to be reassuring... unfortunately Maddie didn't feel strong enough for this, but she couldn't get away from it, either.

Why couldn't she just die?

More pictures formed before her inner eye, and this time she remembered.

She remembered waking up, surrounded by strange people, who looked at her with pity.

She didn't like that.

She didn't like pity.

And she didn't like the man, who was so friendly and calm. It was just a facade, she _knew_ it. Something was off with all of them, but he was the _worst_.

And then she remembered Rose. The pretty blond one, who didn't want her to ask questions. Maddie had liked that reaction better than the ones she got by the others, because it seemed... honest. Instead of feeding her bullshit or excuses, she told her that she wouldn't talk about it.

And Rose had seemed angry and dismissive most of the time, but Maddie had gotten the feeling that it wasn't directed at her.

Maybe she also didn't like that man.

Maddie hadn't been able to move much before, so she was depended on what the people told her. And Rose had said she'd stay with her and keep the man away.

Now, however, she gained a little more control over her body and slowly, very slowly opened her eyes.

She had been right, it was her. Looking at her with wide eyes, suddenly smiling.

"I knew you could hear me," she said and reached out to stroke her cheek. But Maddie liked it better with her eyes closed. The light in the room, the colours - it hurt her eyes. And she didn't need more pain - she couldn't _endure_ more pain.

Everything was less confusing when she closed her eyes again, and it was easier to focus on the voice.

"_She opened her eyes?_" Another gentle voice said. It was female.

"_She just did,_" Rose answered, and Maddie felt her hair being smoothed back her forehead.

The woman gulped back a sob. "_I hope it's over soon. Poor child._" The voice sounded muffled, as if a hand covered her mouth while speaking.

"_Esme, you're not helping right now._"

That name was also strangely familiar. But Maddie didn't know how she felt about that person. The voice sounded nice, as well as distressed, but she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"_Do you want me to stay with her for a while? You have been sitting here for almost one and a half days, dear._"

_For how long?_

Maddie screamed again. If Rose left, her anchor would be gone. Who knows what these people would do to her?

"_You can join me, but I am not leaving. I have left once, and see what happened._" Rose sounded bitter and even a bit accusing.

Yes, Maddie remembered. Rose had told her that she would be gone for a while, and she gave her music to listen to. She had told her that she would be back really soon. But Maddie couldn't remember if she had indeed come back.

"_She has changed so much already. It must be over soon._"

Maddie gasped for breath.

"_Sshh, the_ pain_ must be over soon, Maddie, the pain,_" Rosalie said quickly, rubbing her other hand over Maddie's forearm, trying to comfort her.

"_I'm sorry, angel, I didn't mean to upset you._" The other voice apologised, before it added in a whisper, "_Rose, you don't have to stay at her side the entire time. You must be exhausted._"

"_I promised her I wouldn't leave, and so I won't. She is the one suffering, I am just sitting here to make sure she's feeling safe_."

Maddie wasn't sure if Rose said that to inform the new person or to show her her support.

"_Have you told her?_"

"_A little, yes, but it is hard._"

"_Maybe Carlisle should come upstairs and explain to her._"

"_Don't you dare suggest that,_" Rose snarled.

The anger in her voice startled Maddie. But the name brought back some memories. Well, not directly memories, but feelings. Loathe and uneasiness... she didn't want him near her. And Rose also didn't want him near her.

So she had been right all along - he was a two-faced bastard.

"_Rosalie, please, you cannot bear a grudge against him._"

"_Do you seriously want to talk about this now?_" Rosalie queried in a low hiss, and obviously had turned around to face Esme, because Maddie felt a little pull at her hand and a slight breath of air.

"_No. But you need a break, dear, and Carlisle might be able to help explain._"

"_No._"

Was that a... growl?

"_It would make me feel better, if-_" "_This is not about you, Esme, and I don't give a damn about what would make _you_ feel better,_" Rosalie snapped at her mother, then continued to rub Maddie's arm comfortingly, to still her sudden jerky movements.

Esme must have walked towards the door, because the next time she spoke, her voice was faint. "_I'll ask Edward if he could play the piano for her, maybe she would like that,_" she said shakily and was gone.

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><p><strong>What do you think? Did you like it?<strong>

**REVIEW and make me happy ;-)**


	15. Chapter 15

**I really should get myself a day planner, then you wouldn't have to wait so long for an update :-/**

**Btw: The last two chapters of this story are already written, woohoo! I really wanna finish this story until Christmas, so I can publish another one (which is more or less finished, which means: I can update frequently!)**

**Don't wanna waste your time, so read the chapter now! **

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><p>"Edward? Would you be so kind and play the piano? Maybe it'll help distract Maddie a little," Esme said when she reached the living room downstairs.<p>

Her voice was soft and shaky, Edward noticed... the dreadful sight of the girl writhing in pain must have been worse than she had anticipated.

But what could they do about it?

"Of course," he replied immediately and made to walk into the foyer, but then he froze and turned around again.

"She didn't mean to offend you," he said softly.

Carlisle looked up at that, startled. Was his wife upset about something else than the girl's pain?

Esme took a deep breath, before nodding her head at Edward. "I know. She is overburdened and stressed, but she won't take a break."

"What happened?" Carlisle asked with a frown.

"Rose left the room earlier today for a short moment, because Emmett wanted her to take a break. He talked to the girl then and touched her arm, which made her panic. She doesn't like male voices right now. That is why Rose is not willing to leave her side anymore, to reassure her and give her a feeling of security, as well as to build trust," Edward told them.

"Then why didn't you stay longer, Esme? I know you want to."

Before Esme could answer, Edward spoke up again to give his parents a little more insight into what was going on up there.

"Maddie is listening. She hears what is being said and she remembers things. They have to be careful what they talk about around her. She was completely bewildered when she heard Rose growl at Esme a minute ago."

Carlisle frowned. "And what was Rose so upset about just now?"

He eyed his wife, who gazed at him through sad eyes and answered, "I suggested that you go upstairs and explain to the girl what is happening to her."

He bent forward to put his elbows on his knees, then folded his hands and let his forehead lean against them. "I assume that would be unfavourable," he stated.

Esme took a step towards Carlisle, her voice apologetic as well as stricken."I didn't know Rosalie would be so fierce about this. I thought it would help Maddie to understand what she is going to become, what she is changing into."

"The girl wouldn't believe you one way or the other, because she thinks the pain is driving her insane and she hears wrong. Rose had told her we are not human, but she didn't understand. She cannot grasp it. And right now she isn't feeling alarmed because she is afraid of men, but because the helplessness she is feeling scares her," Edward explained.

Esme turned back around to look at her son, opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, before finally having the courage to ask the question they still hadn't gotten an answer to. "Has she remembered the... accident?"

Edward looked unwilling to answer for a brief moment. He so wanted to relieve his mother's mind, but he couldn't. "No, she hasn't. And her memories are mixed up. She sees a dead infant over and over in her mind, then a window and snow. She is trying so hard to remember."

"Oh no... what if she won't heal?" This information made a whole new wave of guilt crash down on Esme. Maybe Maddie's brain injury had been too severe - too severe to be healed by the venom.

Carlisle stood up from the couch and engulfed his wife in a comforting hug. "Esme, I can assure you that she will heal completely."

She looked up at him. "Maybe Jasper could help calm Maddie's emotions then." It pained her so much to know that the girl had to go through the painful change and that it still wasn't over.

"She is changing, his ability wouldn't work on her now."

Esme blinked a couple of times, trying to keep the tears that threatened to spill over at bay."So there is nothing we can do for her?"

"We can only wait, love."

Esme nodded her head - so she had to accept the fact that they couldn't be of any help now. She glanced at Edward then, whispering: "Does she trust Rose?"

"I don't know. I just know that she wants her to stay by her side." Edward answered truthfully.

Esme had been hoping he would say yes, so Maddie would have at least one attachment figure in this new world of confusion.

* * *

><p>Edward played Bach's Goldberg Variations throughout the night, again and again.<p>

Maddie was grateful for it, because the music gave her a sense of time and the flowing melodies calmed her a little despite the pain.

Rosalie chatted away. She described Maddie's clothing, the weather, the house. She told her about foreign countries and books, museums and paintings. She was aware that she wouldn't understand everything she said, but she just wanted to distract her as much as possible and show her that she was by her side the whole time.

Then even Alice joined in. They hoped that she would understand that way that even though they were different and she would be, too, they could still have human interests and live a next to normal life. Plus, Alice loved checking on her, to witness the different stages of the change as she had never seen anyone go through the transformation. She didn't even remember her own and had no idea how painful it was.

Emmett tentatively entered the room at a later time. He figured that maybe his voice would disturb Maddie, so he didn't speak.

But since the girl listened to everything that happened around her, she screamed again because she knew that there was somebody else present, but she couldn't identify that person just by listening to the footsteps.

Rosalie realised what must have caused this reaction, so she reassured her by telling her that she would stay with her like she had promised. She then introduced Emmett to her again, telling her about him, telling her that he was her husband, a good guy.

Maddie opened her eyes and glanced up at him, giving him a scrutinising look before her gaze turned softer. But when she couldn't keep the pain from showing in her eyes anymore, she closed them again.

* * *

><p>Maddie lay curled up on her side when Esme entered the room the next time. She smiled a little as she saw that the girl was still holding Rosalie's hand, but the little whimpers that escaped Maddie's lips were still tearing her heart to pieces.<p>

She cleared her throat before she spoke. "Edward said the music calmed her."

"Yes, it did," Rosalie confirmed without taking her eyes off the girl. "Thank you."

Esme stepped closer to the bed. Bending down a little, she softly said, "You'll feel better soon, Maddie."

But what then happened shocked both of them.

Maddie slowly opened her eyes, which weren't their usual green colour anymore but a very, very dark brown, and whispered in a shaking voice, "Make it stop."

The look she gave them was one of sheer distress and abandoning - she felt like she couldn't take this anymore. It was too much, she was too weak.

They stared at her with wide eyes, before Esme reached out and stroked her hair comfortingly.

"It'll stop soon, angel, very soon," she said, trying her best to sound reassuring.

Maddie didn't even pull away, because she longed for help and comfort. She couldn't help herself right now, she didn't know what to do, didn't know how to make the pain go away.

"Alice said you'll be healed by daytime," Rosalie remarked encouragingly.

But it did not encourage Maddie to endure this any longer.

"No, now_,_"she managed to whine.

It was tragic and heartbreaking, but also a little comical. As if pouting or petulance would help to speed up the transformation...

"If there was something we could give you to help you with the pain, we would do that instantly. But there really is nothing we can do, love," Esme told her in a gentle voice.

"Kill me, make it stop, just make it stop," she pressed through gritted teeth, before breathing rapidly again as another wave of white-hot pain shot through her entire body.

She stared at Rose and Esme pleadingly, sheer desperation shimmering in those darkened eyes, but they didn't seem willing to comply with her request.

"You're healing," Rosalie told Maddie softly, and rubbed the back of her hand in a soothing gesture - which didn't soothe anything at the moment, by the way.

Maddie eyes fluttered, then she closed them again, her face twisted in pain.

Why did they have to torture her so? Why couldn't they just make it stop? What had she done to them that they hurt her so much and then pretended to be nice to her?

"Alice sees the future, Maddie. The pain will stop soon, it's true, she said so," Rosalie started to explain, before adding, "It starts from your fingertips and your toes. First you think they have gone numb, because you don't feel the pain anymore. But it is retracting itself, you hear?"

"You'll be fine, dear. The change takes time," Esme's motherly voice rang out to the writhing girl.

Rosalie looked up at Esme then, mouthing 'She doesn't understand' and shaking her head slightly.

Maddie indeed had no clue what they meant by _change_.

She did understand, though, when they said she was healing. Something had been wrong with her before, therefore healing would make sense. But shouldn't the pain go away and not stay on a constant level if she was indeed healing? Healing normally was a good thing, wasn't it? It was supposed to make you feel better and not worse.

And why did she have the feeling that the music had gotten louder and louder while Edward had played the piano earlier?

Or was it earlier? Being enveloped in pain made it impossible to keep track of something 'trivial' as time.

She even could hear footsteps in the hallway before somebody entered the room. Maddie knew that something was wrong with that.

And her screams and whimpers have started to sound different. But that was bound to happen, wasn't it? She had screamed so much already, her throat must be sore or raw... well, it certainly felt like was.

* * *

><p>Maddie noticed something some time later. Her fingertips felt numb. They didn't hurt anymore, as well as her toes.<p>

It was great to realise that finally, _finally _this hell seemed to end. Even though the pain she felt in the other parts of her body seemed more prominent then in comparison to her pain-free fingers and toes.

It was exactly what Rosalie had told her. So she hadn't heard wrong and they weren't playing mind-games with her, she figured.

Slowly, very slowly, the pain left her hands, her feet.

It was so weird, so unreal.

She squeezed Rose's hand tightly, who then said, "It's retracting itself, isn't it?"

Rose sounded relieved... and happy?

"The change is nearly completed. I know your throat must burn worse now, but we'll help you take care of this. You will just need to drink something and afterwards you'll feel better, all right?"

But the girl grimaced in pain again and put a hand over her heart. It pounded even heavier now than it had before and it hurt so much more. Like it was sucking the pain from the rest of her body only to let it pool into this little spot.

Rosalie spoke again, hoping she would listen and comprehend. "I didn't want to upset you earlier, but I have to tell you this now: Your heart will stop beating. Don't be afraid, I've told you we are not human, therefore we don't need a heartbeat. Your heart will stop beating, it is supposed to happen."

It scared Maddie. Why would her heart draw the pain to it? And why was it picking up its pace? It would collapse from this accelerated effort, it had to.

"Your heart beats heavier and it hurts more now, until it stops beating."

_How unfair was that?_

She had endured this for so long now, and the moment she would finally be pain-free, her heart would stop beating and she'd die.

Fantastic... but maybe it was better that way.

But to Maddie's surprise, the pain in her heart got even worse now and it beat that loud and fast, that Maddie nearly wished for it to stop.

Why would her death be prolonged? Why hadn't they killed her earlier?

She bit her lip and breathed quicker when the sound and speed went up another notch. Incredibly loud, incredibly fast.

When she thought she couldn't take it anymore and her heart would collapse, it did.

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><p><strong>So?<strong>

**Be honest :D**

**I just wanted to try and describe the change in detail, because it is the most prominent memory every vampire has, right?**

**So ... Maddie will wake up in the next chapter and the family might find out why she was bleeding all over their driveway. Did she fall or did she jump? I'm dying to know what **_**you**_** think happened, my dear readers, so REVIEW and tell me! Fall? Jump? Fall? Jump?**


	16. Chapter 16

**Phew! **

**I am really trying to update more frequently now, but it is hard! :(**

**Let's see if you like this chapter, haha! **

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><p>It felt like her heart stumbled.<p>

Then there was nothing for a brief moment, until it thudded softly for the last time.

Just once.

It was a very soft thud - a residue from the overexertion.

An eerie silence filled the air, replacing the sound of Maddie's heart pumping blood through her veins.

She sat up abruptly; the sharp intake of breath she took was comparable to a drowning person, who resurfaced after a long time under water, desperately gasping for air.

With her hand on her chest, she waited for her heart to beat again.

_This was not possible..._

Her heart had stopped beating.

Panic started to course through her body.

_Her heart had stopped beating!_

Her breathing quickened, became more frantic.

That was until she noticed she wasn't alone in the room.

Rosalie sat there with a smile on her lips; a smile that was so warm and reassuring that Maddie forgot that she was still holding her hand, but just stared at her.

"Stay calm, I've told you your heart would stop beating. But you don't need a heartbeat. I don't have one either, it's all right."

_It's all right? _

Maddie's chest heaved from her quickened breathing, while she kept on staring at Rose in disbelief.

Rosalie looked different somehow. Her skin smoother, her eyes glowed as golden as her blond locks. It confused Maddie, because she looked different but kind of the same.

When Maddie realised that Rose's hand was holding her own, she pulled it from her grasp and scooted back on the bed, away from her.

From her new position, Maddie scanned the room quickly and saw that the two of them weren't alone.

Alice was leaning against the doorframe, her eyes bright as she had watched the last minutes of Maddie's change with interest. Emmett was next to Alice and waved at Maddie the moment she looked at him.

Even Esme was there, sitting on a chair on the other side of the room, smiling at the girl.

Maddie's eyes darted back and forth between the people who looked at her, and even these quick glances made her realise that they _all_ looked different.

Heck, the whole room looked different! Everything was clearer somehow, she could see everything right down to the last detail, like a veil had been lifted before her eyes. All these colours, the precision of her new vision ... it startled her.

"So... what's up with you and windows?" Emmett asked, trying to lift the awkward mood and the silence in the room.

Maddie frowned in confusion, while the others glared at him.

Rosalie wanted to speak, but saw the girl's eyes go wide when Edward appeared in the doorway.

That was the first time Maddie's new instincts kicked in and she let out a low growl, which formed deep down in her burning throat.

She couldn't keep herself from growling, even though it felt like it was ripping her throat in half.

Rose held her hands up, palms facing her, and she was trying to soothe her hectic movements and the confusion that she must be feeling.

"It's okay, I know how confusing it is."

Maddie's breathing calmed a little and her growl grew fainter as she tried to collect her thoughts - until Jasper appeared.

She had never seen anything like him before.

This guy was scarred, seriously scarred, all over. Nasty cuts, scratches and _bite marks?_ were blemishing his skin. His face, his neck, his hands ... these scars were just _everywhere_, making him look sinister and dangerous.

Obviously recognising him as a threat, Maddie hissed at him menacingly.

"Do you mind?" Rosalie asked rudely, having turned her head to the side to look at Jasper. Yes, she didn't turn around completely, because you don't stand with your back to a newborn, _ever_.

"Just want to make sure everybody is safe here," he remarked and stepped in front of Alice, crouching a little. His eyes were fixed on the newborn, who had gone from hissing to growling, and just did not stop.

_Safe? What did he mean by that?_

He kept his stance and didn't back off, despite the warnings the girl was giving him_. _

The intensity of her growling increased - she wanted him gone or she would attack.

"Let her calm down some first," Edward said and looked at Jasper. Maddie's mind was dominated by thoughts of self-defense and slaughtering Jasper, and the way he looked her straight in the eye just provoked her further.

Funny enough, Maddie indeed felt herself calm down then and she fell silent, even though she remained wary of the scarred, threatening looking man.

Esme seized this chance to carefully let Maddie in on their secret. "We would like to explain to you once more what has happened to you, what you have changed into."

Maddie looked in between Jasper and Esme, then nodded her head once.

"Your heart stopped beating, because it doesn't have to. Listen, none of us has a heartbeat anymore."

Anger rose in the pit of Maddie's stomach.

_Was she kidding her? How the hell would she be able to hear people's heartbeats, huh? What a stupid-_

But then she noticed sounds coming from everywhere. A ticking noise, like a clock. The droning of a washing machine, somewhere in the house. Trees outside, whose branches swayed in the light breeze. And, of course, breathing. She could hear each and everyone in this room _breathing_. How was that possible? She had never noticed it being so _loud_.

"Wh-," she started to ask, but immediately stopped and held a hand to her throat.

This wasn't her voice.

It definitely wasn't.

It couldn't be her voice, because she had never heard this before. Even this small sound she had made sounded melodic and clear, unlike the rasping voice she had barely managed to croak out for some time now. But even before the time she had trouble breathing, her voice had sounded very much different than what she had heard just now.

A jolt of fear coursed through her body, and she darted angry glances at everybody in the room, trying to mask her anxiety.

"Your voice is different now, too. No need to worry, it is perfectly normal," Rosalie told her in a soft, affectionate voice.

"What you have experienced was the change from human to vampire," Esme explained to the girl, who seemed to be very much overburdened by all the new impressions she had and the situation in general. Not that anyone could blame her - they had been in exactly the same situation after the transformation was completed, and they had gone through the same heavy confusion.

Maddie's eyes widened at the word 'vampire'.

_What the hell? Vampires don't exist, these people were crazy._

"We are not crazy. You are a vampire now, like us," Edward spoke, answering her thoughts. But to be honest: It was obvious to all of them what she must be thinking right at that moment.

Maddie didn't like being in this room with so many people, all staring at her, all _batshit crazy_. She just wanted to get away.

"See for yourself," Rosalie said, effectively distracting her byopened the door of the closet and pointing to the mirror that hung on the inside of the door. She was certain that if she saw the changes about herself and the angry, red eyes, that she would understand that she was indeed not human anymore. She had changed into something different.

Maddie glanced at all of them in turn again to make sure they would stay where they were and not move and then she slowly crept off the bed and got closer to the mirror.

What she saw shocked her.

Or maybe, what she didn't see shocked her.

_This wasn't her._

A complete stranger looked back at her. Pearly white skin; dark brown, silky hair; brilliant white teeth... an angelic, youthful face.

No sunken cheeks, no bruises or pale lips.

This person somehow looked so alert and _healthy_, apart from these eyes.

These cold eyes were a dead giveaway that this wasn't her. They were blood red, almost glowing under the thick lashes in this pasty-white face.

With one hand on her smooth, marble-like cheek, she reached out with her other one to touch the mirror in disbelief; but the moment her finger made contact with the smooth surface, it cracked and shattered.

She hugged her hand to her chest and hissed at the mirror like it was a threat and it was an utterly feral sound.

A new wave of calmness hit her and she turned around to look at the others, insecurity prominent in her expression.

"Don't be upset, it happens a lot in the beginning. You are stronger now and have to gradually learn how to handle this strength," Rosalie explained, her voice still full of affection and understanding.

"Here," she spoke again and retrieved a hand mirror from the drawer cabinet in the room, "look at yourself. It'll help you understand."

Maddie darted a wary glance at Rose while she slowly approached her, then reached forward and snatched the mirror from her grasp before backing away again. The glass surface cracked in the corner where her thumb was pressing down on it.

Rosalie took a step backwards, to give her even more space as it would make her feel safer.

Before looking at herself in the mirror, she eyed the others to make sure they wouldn't pounce on her the moment she would be distracted.

Nobody moved.

Just like before, Maddie couldn't believe that these crimson eyes, that stared at her through the mirror, were her own. Never in her life had she seen eyes like this. So she reached up with one hand to touch her left eyeball, to check if they had put contacts into her eyes to confuse her.

"They are real," Rosalie informed her.

Maddie glared at her over the mirror, then looked at her reflection once again.

"... not like yours," she whispered in this new voice she didn't know and shook her head lightly. Rose stood closest to her, so she was the only one who heard.

Rosalie spoke slowly and reassuringly. "No, they don't look like ours. It'll take a couple of months for your irises to change into a different colour, Maddie. They will turn the same shade of golden as ours."

Maddie got angry instantly, hating these mind games they were playing with her.

The little mirror crumbled under her hands.

"She is." Edward called over his shoulder, even though there was nobody behind him.

_Huh?_

Maddie was confused for a second, but then she crouched back a little, having smelled something that hadn't been as prominent as before.

And there he stood.

Their gazes met, and Maddie narrowed her eyes, all the while growling lowly. She felt distrust, loathing and fury surge through her body with the quickness of an electric shock.

Edward took a step to the side to let his father enter.

"Be careful," he whispered to Carlisle, who nodded his head in response, before looking back at the girl who had finally completed the transformation and was now in the process of adjustment.

"Hello, Maddie. How are you feeling?"

She bared her teeth at his question and was ready to make a charge, before she felt all the feelings that had appeared a second ago vanish into thin air. She was still wary, but not furious anymore.

"I came to explain to you."

Maddie just shook her head slowly and took a step back.

"No?" Carlisle queried. "I just want you to understand what led to me changing you."

And Maddie spoke for the first time, or rather: she yelled. "You? You did this to me?! All this?!"

Fury and hate rose up inside of her once again.

A pained expression appeared on Carlisle's face when he answered. "The change is painful and if I could have, I would have taken the pain for you, but unfortunately that is not possible." He looked sincere, his eyes pleading for her to understand.

_Fuck you._

Maddie suddenly whipped her head around and glared at Esme with her crazy-looking, crimson eyes.

"You said he wouldn't hurt me!" she accused, her eyes flashing furiously, "You promised!" As she screamed, her voice cracked slightly at the end.

"I-I...," Esme started to say while tears welled up in her eyes. She had indeed promised her that, and now hearing that he had inflicted the pain of the change on her would be disturbing for the girl.

"I hate you!" Maddie yelled, her face taut with anger and her voice full of rage.

Carlisle made a quick step to the right to shield his wife, just in case the furious newborn would dash forward and try to hurt her.

Esme left the room at these words, a hand held over her mouth in an attempt to mute the sobs that escaped her lips. She felt so horrible for the girl's pain, and she had no idea how to make it up to her again. If she would ever let her try to make it up to her again.

Carlisle watched her leave, before trying to calm the raving newborn. "Sshh, we didn't have a choice, you were dying. We had to act before it would have been too late. Changing you was the only way to save you."

Maddie was calmer again than just mere seconds ago. All these erratic mood swings were starting to scare her a little. And they made her angry, of course.

_What had this bastard done to her?_

Maddie didn't understand from what exactly he allegedly had saved her, but it couldn't have been worse that this.

Glaring at him she whispered in a hate-filled voice, "Save me? I didn't need to be saved."

"You would have died, Maddie, we couldn't let that happen."

"Did he sell me to you?"

Carlisle was puzzled by her question and he blinked at her. "I fail to understand what you mean."

"We are not involved in human-trafficking," Edward piped up and answered the girl's thoughts, trying to be helpful.

The others gasped at this conclusion - they really should have told her more about themselves.

Suddenly Carlisle spoke again. "Don't worry yourself about that. I would never-"

And she did not believe him. "Shut up."

Something was seriously wrong with her, something that _he_ had done to her, and she didn't want it. Her throat felt as if it was raw and spiked with needles, she couldn't think straight, and she - more than anything - didn't want him near her. She wanted for all of this to stop.

_Right now._

"You did this and I don't want it. Make it right again, kill me," Maddie demanded, sounding dead serious. He owed her that.

Carlisle's eyes widened infinitesimally before he caught himself and said, "You are a vampire now, just like us. It is impossible to kill an immortal."

The girl didn't notice the looks the others gave each other, because she was busy yelling at Carlisle.

"You're full of shit! Something like that doesn't exist, _vampires_ don't exist!" she shouted, then snarled through gritted teeth, "I will not live like this. Just kill me now, _you fucking coward_."

"Vampires do exist. It is exactly what you are now," he replied in his usual calm tone of voice, looking at her intently.

"It is daytime, you idiot," she scoffed and narrowed her eyes.

And she had seen what she had become in the mirror. There had been a reflection. And her teeth were still normal. Vampires don't have all that.

"Nothing but rumours. We do not sleep, and we do not burn in the sun. Sit down and let me explain to you, please."

"No," she growled in response.

"Madeline, just give me the chance to explain to you what happened after I bit you," he urged.

And that drivel did it.

Maddie had never been _bitten_, neither by him nor by anyone else. She would know, wouldn't she?

"No! You've injected me with something! It made me sick, and then the pain... and those eyes! What did you do to me, you fucker? What kind of an experiment was that?!" she roared at him, her crimson eyes holding a murderous look as she got angrier by the second.

"It wasn't an experiment, and I did not inject anything. What I had given you were antibiotics and pain medication. You were sick before, remember?"

Maddie looked everywhere but at him, until her eyes met Rosalie's. She looked back at her, sympathy in her eyes. "You were sick," she confirmed in a sad voice, "you couldn't breathe, your arm was broken. Half your body was black and blue. Don't you remember?"

Maddie frowned.

Now that they talked about it she did remember, even though everything seemed so awkward and blurry. Staring at the floor, she absentmindedly reached up to place a hand on her upper arm, just where the cast had been.

At that moment Carlisle took a step towards her. "We-"

Maddie reached out with a speed that was too quick for anyone to prevent her action. She pushed Carlisle away from herself, which made him fly through the air and crash into the opposite wall. It felt like the earth was shaking, and Maddie nearly put her hands over her ears at the deafening sound. The part of the wall Carlisle had collided with was now dented from the impact and the plaster fell down in little pieces, covering the floor and - of course - Carlisle.

Everybody gasped; Alice and Edward ran over to him, to check if he was all right.

With wide eyes, Maddie just stood there and stared at her palms in disbelief.

Emmett and Jasper crouched, ready to catch Maddie and hold her down in case she would charge again or attack somebody else.

But Maddie was too absorbed in trying to figure out what had just happened with her hands, so she didn't notice them going into their defensive stances.

Rosalie spoke up, and she sounding comforting. "It's okay, I've told you that you are stronger now."

Giving her a quick sideways glance, Maddie then continued to eye her palms as though expecting them to change colour or fall off any second.

Carlisle stood up from the floor with Edward's help, his hair completely dishevelled and full of plaster particles.

"I'm fine, no need to worry. I have startled her, it was my mistake," he reassured his children while dusting himself down.

A crooked smile formed on Maddie's lips then.

She was indeed stronger now.

_Interesting._

"Maddie?" Rose carefully asked, trying to get her attention once more. "How about we go get you something to drink? You must be incredibly thirsty, am I right?"

Maddie thought about that. Her throat burned something awful, and she really could use something to drink.

So she nodded her head and looked back at Rose with big, sad eyes; her lower lip was thrusted out in a pout. She was so thirsty that even breathing hurt, and she wanted for someone to make it all better.

Rose gave her an encouraging smile and held out her hand for her to take.

Maddie hesitated for a moment, then took a step towards her.

"Rose, No!" Jasper shouted, alarmed at the physical closeness between her and a three minute old newborn vampire, who, by the way, had just attacked their coven leader.

"Shush." was all Rosalie said to him when Maddie tentatively wrapped her fingers around her hand, before she guided her out of the room. Emmett and Jasper were close at their heels.

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><p><strong>Yes ... the little mystery is still not solved, but it somehow just didn't fit in here :-**

**Btw: The next chapter was _awesome_ to write (yes, it is finished! Not proof-read, though... maybe on the weekend), so I really hope you'll read it and like it :D**

** **But first things first: What did you think of this chapter? REVIEW! ALL OF YOU haha** **


	17. Chapter 17

**Next update! Not bad, huh? Even though I had a busy week!**

**patz13: Yup, Bella's change was the only reference I had! (And a little bit of Rosalie's, of course)**

**And since it is the same situation, it made sense to me to include the same impressions and instincts after waking up, so *shrug* And the same people, of course, haha!**

**Next chapter is halfway done, you guys! I'll update next week, because it's on my other computer which is... well, not here. :-/ **

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><p>"Why are they following us?" Maddie whispered to Rose, while they were walking down the hall to reach the staircase.<p>

"You know what? I think they are thirsty, too," she replied, keeping her voice in the same low whisper as Maddie's.

It wouldn't do any good to tell the girl now that she was incredibly dangerous to everyone and Jasper and Emmett were only accompanying them to make sure she was safe from her.

The girl hadn't asked for this new life, and she was terribly confused; so Rose tried to show her understanding and comfort instead of going into a defensive stance and growling at her.

Sure, she was a newborn and therefore a threat, but she was also still a child - Rosalie couldn't look past this. She had pushed her instinct away the moment she had woken up, and the need to take care of this girl had taken its place. Just like she had ignored the urge to drain her while she was still human and had tried to be there for her instead.

There were still childlike features gracing her face; and her eyes, although blood-red and mostly full of anger, still held childhood innocence.

They descended the stairs together until they reached the foyer.

"Let's see," Rose said and chose a pair of sneakers for her to wear. They looked brand-new, unused and expensive. "They should fit. Try them on."

Maddie squinted up at her. "My throat hurts."

"I know. We'll take care of that now. Put on the shoes."

"Don't you have a kitchen? With water? ... or Vodka?" She definitely could use some of that. Water to quench the thirst, Vodka to calm her nerves.

Rose huffed.

_Was she mad? _"Water won't help you much. And I've told you before that alcohol is not good for you at that age."

"Drinking at thirteen?" Emmett asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm fifteen, you fucker!" Maddie snarled at Emmett, barely able to keep her anger in check.

"Woah, chill. Okay, okay, you're fifteen. Geez," he said while holding his hands up in a placating manner and taking a step backwards to calm her anger. He normally would have growled back, but seeing how Rose was handling her, he didn't want to make it harder for his wife to gain the girl's trust.

Maddie continued to glare at him, but as quickly as her anger had come, it was gone.

_Peculiar._

"Sshh, we need to get going, so you won't have to be thirsty any longer," Rosalie said and handed Maddie the sneakers. She took one in each hand and started with the left one. Putting her foot into the shoe she then pulled to get it in all the way, but unfortunately - it ripped.

"Uh-oh," she uttered and distorted her mouth, then looked guiltily up at Rose. "Sorry."

Jasper's gift was very effective on her, Rosalie realised. How else could it be possible for this girl to look _guilty_? Newborns weren't capable of feeling something such like guilt.

"It's all right, we have plenty more. Being that strong takes some time getting used to, it really does. Let me help you," she cooed, grabbed another brand-new pair of sneakers and knelt down to help Maddie put them on.

"There. Do they fit?" she asked while straightening up again.

Maddie nodded her head and looked a little embarrassed that she had needed help for something simple like that. She wasn't a baby, so why would she have trouble putting on shoes? That was crazy. "Thank you."

Rose bent down a little to be face to face with her. She smiled and said, "You're welcome."

"Stop staring at me," Maddie suddenly growled and looked past Rose when she noticed Jasper not taking his eyes off her.

"You're difficult," he said matter-of-factly. He didn't mean her attitude, even though it wasn't the best, but he meant her ability to get angry again and again even though he tried to suppress that feeling inside of her. Of course, newborns had mood swings that were intense to say the least, but right now controlling them took a lot of concentration from Jasper as there were so many emotions he had to supress at the same time.

"Fuck you," she retorted.

"Ah ah ah, let's keep the cussing to a minimum, shall we? We want to go out now," Rosalie said in a light tone of voice.

She opened a door to the side which happend to be a closet, and she retrieved some jackets. Sure, they wouldn't need them, but it was better to let the girl in on that at a later time.

"Try this one on, Maddie, it should be your size," she told her and held a white jacket out for her to take.

The girl did so without looking away from Jasper, who just did not stop staring at her. Fucker.

"Don't just hold it, put it on!" Rosalie encouraged while putting on a dark grey wool coat herself; it fit her perfectly, like it was specially tailored for her.

Maddie complied, carefully this time so she wouldn't rip the jacket, then turned and saw that there was a mirror on the inside of the closet door.

Just like before, she couldn't believe what stared back at her.

This couldn't be her. Well, she recognised her hair colour all right, even though the hair of the girl in the mirror looked shinier and thicker and wasn't greasy or have any split ends.

When she reached out, Rosalie turned to look at her.

"No, no, no! Enough broken mirrors for one day. We'll do something else now," she said and guided Maddie's hand away from the mirror. "Let's go outside. We'll run for a bit, how does that sound?"

Maddie got the feeling that they were teasing her. She was thirsty! She didn't want to run, just have something to make the pain go away!

But somehow it didn't make her angry.

"Do you need me to come?" Edward asked while descending the stairs.

"No, we're fine," Rosalie replied casually, then walked over to the front door and opened it. "Come," she said to the girl, "being thirsty isn't fun."

_Duh. _

But Maddie followed her, because it couldn't get any worse than this.

"She's fourteen," Edward whispered to Emmett, whose eyes were suddenly as big as saucers.

"I _knew_ she wasn't fifteen! Children nowadays ... tzk," he joked, then gave Edward a slap on the back before he ran out of the door to meet up with his wife and their newborn.

"Alice said you should head north," Edward told Jasper, who nodded in response before following Emmett.

Of course he would join them. He was still wary because of the girl's mood swings and didn't want to expose his siblings to any kind of danger. And so he had to make sure she had an even temper to keep the risk of her attacking someone to a minimum.

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><p>Maddie was amazed by the sight that revealed to her when she stepped through the door and onto the front porch.<p>

Snow had never been that beautiful.

It was sundown, so only the huge mountains in the distance were still in full sun. The snow that covered them looked like a million diamonds, twinkling and beautiful.

Everything else was slowly enveloped in shadow.

Maddie just couldn't believe how pin sharp everything looked - she must have been really sick before.

Thankfully she wasn't in that house anymore, with these people...

"Let's run as quickly as we can, okay?" Rosalie asked.

Maddie screwed up her face while looking up at her. "Why?"

"Because it's fun."

"Catch me!" Emmett called and ran ahead.

Rose took off, too, so Maddie started after them.

Woah.

It felt like the world was zooming past her. Nothing turned blurry, but she still had the feeling that she was running incredibly fast, like... with supernatural speed or something.

With every step the snow crunched softly under her feet, and she tried to spurt even quicker. It felt good, liberating; and it was fun.

She ran so fast, the wind whipping her face should have been loud enough to drone out every other noise, but it didn't; she always knew where the others were. And the wind certainly should feel a lot colder. She was in Alaska, after all... in cold, snowy Alaska.

Maddie didn't know for how long she ran, but suddenly they slowed and stopped right in the middle of the forest.

"Do you smell something, Maddie?" Emmett asked the girl and looked at her with raised eyebrows and a big smile was plastered on his face.

She looked back at him with disgust written all over her face.

_This guy was seriously weird._

Glancing at Rose, she asked, "Did you pull his finger?"

That cracked Emmett up. Jasper, although still uptight looking, laughed as well.

And even Rose smirked. "No, what he was trying to say is: Do you smell something alluring? Something sweet?"

"Well, that definitely wouldn't be alluring," she responded while warily eyeing Emmett who was grinning now.

"Concentrate. Do you smell something from _that_ direction?" Rosalie pointed north, hoping Maddie would finally let her senses kick in.

And then it hit her.

Like a little wave of sweet, delicious something... something that smelled awesome.

"I want that," she breathed and her eyes were big and curious. She was stretching her neck to try and see where it was coming from.

"Righto," Emmett exclaimed, then sped the direction of the nice smell.

Taking a step into that direction to inhale more of the heavenly scent, she then took off at full speed without thinking. At first, her running was accompanied by a faint thudding noise, and the faster she ran, the louder it got.

She needed to find out what the sound was, but more importantly: She needed to find out what the smell was, because she wanted to taste the stuff that was smelling so mouthwatering. Her throat hurt in a way that made her run even faster to get to the source of it.

It got even stronger so she must be very close now, she noticed, and then suddenly she saw something.

A black bear was trudging along the trees in some distance, Emmett standing close by, very well hidden from the creature behind a tree.

But that couldn't be... why would she smell a_ bear_?

But with every breath it was like she could already taste the warm delightfulness moisten her parched throat, soothing the pain.

The others stopped a little further away, as they has kept a little distance from the girl to let her get into hunting mode without being distracted by their presence.

Rose nodded encouragingly towards Maddie, then pointed at the bear.

Maddie didn't understand.

_That couldn't be, it was absurd._

Emmett waited until Maddie looked at him again, then he mouthed 'I'll help you.'

Dashing forward, he just tackled the bear to the ground.

Just like that_._

_ Sure, why not_. Happens every day in Maddie's world - she must still be high from the shit that bloke had injected into her veins.

It wasn't that big of a match, because even though the bear roared and tried to claw Emmett away from himself, he was as effective as a dead goldfish against the flush of a toilet.

_What the hell was he doing? Since when do people wrestle with bears?_

But then it happened.

Emmett had nuzzled his face into the bears neck - at least that was what it looked like to Maddie - and then something in her took over. The scent was so intense and alluring, that there was no use in trying to resist - not that Maddie wanted to resist. She didn't have a clue what was happening as she was nothing but a tool to her instincts - but she _wanted_ it.

She sped towards him and Emmett let go of the bear for a second to grant Maddie space to latch on to the wound he had inflicted on the bear's neck.

Her appetite was immense, and she couldn't drink quickly enough, that's how badly she wanted it.

She was holding this huge animal down effortlessly, and let the warm, rich blood from the still thrashing bear run down her aching throat and lessen the pain.

It looked so cute... in a twisted kind of way.

Maddie had a death grip around the bear's neck and drank, her eyes looking a little drowsy the more blood she swallowed from the open wound, and little sucking noises could be heard due to her frenzied drinking.

Like a baby that got its nighttime bottle with warm milk before bed.

Only that her bottle was a 450 lb. bear, the milk blood, and she wouldn't go to bed afterwards, but be all alert and angry and maybe attack someone.

Apart from that - totally the same.

They watched the whole time and Jasper confirmed that it was indeed calming her. Now it would be easier for him to keep her mood in check.

The blood somehow took the edge off, which helped her with her erratic thoughts and actions.

When the bear stopped moving, she immediately stopped drinking, because there was nothing left. She let out a satisfied sigh and licked her lips, before pushing the bear off her lap.

Taking her eyes off the animal, Maddie then looked over at Rose and the others.

Rosalie smiled at her and Emmett gave Maddie a thumbs up. Jasper looked relieved.

"How do you feel now, Maddie?" Rosalie approached Maddie slowly, as to not startle her while she still might be in hunting mode.

"Better," Maddie said and poked at the raw wound on the neck of the huge animal, then sucked the blood off her finger.

Rosalie tsked. "Enough, that is nasty."

"But it helps," she replied, stood up and licked at her finger once more.

"We'll catch another one in case you're still thirsty."

Then it hit Maddie.

There was a_ dead bear_ on the ground, several times her size, and she just _drank_ from it.

She took a step backwards.

"Don't be shocked, Maddie, this is what we do to smother the burning sensation in our throats."

Maddie's glowing red eyes were fixed on her in disbelief.

"We are vampires - we drink blood to survive. You can believe me, you have just experienced it."

"But ... this is a bear."

"Yes. We do not wish to harm humans, therefore we hunt animals."

Slowly, realisation hit Maddie. She obviously had been in denial before, but she couldn't keep it up after what she had just done.

She looked at her bloody hands, then tried to clean them by wiping them on her jeans. That was when she noticed her shirt, jacket and jeans were soiled, too. Even the sneakers were showing fresh specks of blood. The jacket was torn around her wrists - the bear must have bit or clawed at it while she had held him in place.

Oh, and she had obviously hurt the bear a little more while holding him down on her lap. There was blood oozing from a wound on his chest.

She eyed her dead prey a little longer.

Then she got a thoughtful expression on her face, lifted one of the bear's hind legs up and said, "Look, it's a boy."

She could hear Emmett laugh, but Rosalie looked a little unhappy. "Yes, now let go of him, please."

Maddie let go, and its leg dropped back to the ground. She wiped her hand on her trousers, then glanced back at Rose for a second, looking a little mischievous.

She quickly bent down and put a finger on the wound, but Rose pulled her up again.

Maddie growled.

"Stop that. I have told you you can have another one, but poking at dead animals is a big no-no, you hear?"

She retrieved a tissue from one of her coat pockets, then cleaned Maddie's index finger of the still wet blood.

Maddie gave her a defiant glare. Why did she talk to her like that?

And besides, the clothes she was wearing were already stained, she could have wiped her finger on them without making it worse.

"Another one," Maddie eventually said while chewing on her thumb nail in boredom - Rose was still trying to clean her other hand.

"Good. Emmett?"

"No more bears, little one. But how about some moose? Would you like to try moose?" Emmett asked while approaching them, Jasper right behind him.

"Maybe."

How the heck would she know what she wanted? She was running through a freaking forest she had never seen before in her life, then sucking at animals she had never before seen in the wild. She was drinking blood, for fuck's sake! That was definitely a first!

The annoyance and anger that bubbled up in her vanished, and she looked expectantly up at Emmett.

"Where?" she then asked. Her throat didn't hurt as much anymore, but maybe drinking some more might get rid of the remaining burn.

"That's what we are going to find out. We don't need to breathe, but in order to locate animals, you have to use your sense of smell. Therefore: Breathe. Got that?"

"I'm breathing the whole time," she defended herself.

"Yes, and you are doing an amazing job. But now we'll show you how to put that to good use for hunting. Follow me, little lady," he said and ran east, away from the mauled bear.

Maddie looked for Rose first, to check that she would be following, too, then she ran in the direction Emmett had taken.

It didn't take long until she found him leaning against a tree.

"Smell that?" he whispered.

"Smell what?"

"_Moose!_"

She took a deep breath and immediately her face distorted into a grimace of pure disgust. "Eeww."

So this pungent smell was something she was supposed to drink from? _Yeah right._

"Ah, come on, give 'em a chance. They have a right to be eaten by us, too."

That made a little smirk appear on Maddie's face.

_Maybe he wasn't a jerk_.

"But I don't like that smell. You are just trying to trick me."

"I'll have one, too," he stated.

Okay, if he also drank from these vile, skunkish creatures, then it couldn't be a joke, right?

"Do you need help taking one down, or do you wanna try for yourself?"

"I'll try," Maddie decided, because she didn't like being dependent on others. She really needed to learn to do it, because soon she would leave and then she wouldn't have anyone catching her food for her.

"Awesome. Just make sure you don't slow down, because we don't want them to run away, now do we? You'll find the right point on the neck yourself, you'll be able to smell and feel it. All clear?"

She nodded her head. Then tentatively asked, "How do I get to the ...?"

"The blood, you mean? Just bite down on the neck. It's even easier than it sounds, trust me. Your instincts will do all the work."

"Okay," she replied with a sigh, then dashed forwards and followed the smell that she didn't really like.

They found some moose after mere seconds.

Emmett jumped right into the herd and gripped a huge bull moose around the neck, biting down on its neck and starting to drain the animal.

Maddie caught one as well, just before it would realise that it was in danger.

The warm, pulsating point on its neck showed her exactly were to bite down, even though she didn't really think about it. She just bared her teeth and sunk them into the tender neck like she had never done anything else.

No resistance whatsoever.

Maddie drank the warm blood in big gulps because she somehow couldn't stop, but the moment the moose stopped moving, she let it drop to the ground.

And she didn't look too happy.

"Ey Mad, how did you like it?" Emmett called from next to the dead moose lying in the snow.

She wrinkled her nose, then exclaimed, "Ugh, yuck!" and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

"It takes some time getting used to, don't worry."

"I like bear better," she admitted, hoping she would never have to drink this piss again.

"Me, too, but it is too cold still. They are all sleeping. This bear I had to wake, because they don't have a very deep sleep," Emmett explained.

"Can we wake some more?" she asked, her voice laced with curiosity and hopefulness.

He shook his head. "That wouldn't be right. They need to have some cubs first, otherwise we would barely have enough bears left for the rest of the year."

That did make sense to Maddie, even though she didn't like that answer.

"Would you like to drink some more?"

"No!" She shouted and covered her mouth with both her hands, as if otherwise he would force this nasty stuff down her throat.

Emmett laughed at her childish gesture. "Okay, then let's run for a bit."

Running was fun, so Maddie came along.

The longer they ran in one direction, the more Maddie realised that they had been there before. She could see the faint footsteps in the snow and even smell them in the air. _Was that even possible?_

When they reached the edge of the forest they had come in from, Maddie stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong? Why are you stopping?" Emmett asked with a frown.

Maddie stared at him, but did not say a word.

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><p><strong>I had finished this chapter pretty quickly, because it was so much fun to write!<strong>

**What do you think?**

**REVIEW, it's very easy, just click the button down there. It says: REVIEW ;-) **


	18. Chapter 18

**This will be the last update for about a week now! Next week will be plain horrible for me, important exam coming up, so I'm busy studying right now. Uhm ... yay?**

**Enjoy the chapter ;-) **

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><p>"She is so adorable!" Alice cooed after she had received the vision of Maddie draining the big, black bear, hugging its head to her chest and sucking on the wound.<p>

Carlisle and Esme looked at each other, a little confused by Alice's sudden exclamation. They were picking up the broken bits and pieces in Maddie's room - there was nothing particularly adorable about how she had pushed Carlisle into a wall.

"The girl just fed off a bear for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it," Edward clarified for his parents as they couldn't see what they were seeing.

Esme's face lit up at the good news and Carlisle looked relieved. With the worst burn extinguished in Maddie's throat, she would be calmer now and maybe even open to the idea of them explaining this new kind of life to her.

"But she'll need a bath when she comes home," Alice added and grimaced.

Yes, her face was smeared with blood, her hands, her clothes as well... she even had blood in her hair.

But it was nothing a nice, long bath wouldn't get rid of. And considering the tons of clothes Alice had purchased for her, the stained clothing wasn't that much of a problem.

"So she is feeling better now?" Carlisle asked.

He was unbelievably concerned about the poor girl - she had been so very confused before. It had been quite a while since the last time they had a newborn at home, but she took the situation a lot harder than the last one - Emmett - had.

Since she was still a child and due to the circumstances she ended up here, she didn't have the patience the others have had after the change to let him explain.

Thank God they had Jasper who was able to calm her erratic emotions - it would help a lot to keep her under control and make her think rationally.

"Probably," Edward mused.

"Ooh," Alice pouted, "she doesn't like moose, even though it is the first animal she took down all by herself."

Carlisle frowned. "What about the bear she drank from?"

"She didn't know what to do, so Emmett caught it for her," Edward told his parents with a little smirk. He had seen Emmett tackling the bear to the ground and Maddie looking utterly perplexed in Alice's vision. It was too funny.

"What a great big brother he is," Esme smiled, proud of her son. Right now she was very much relieved that the girl let Rose be close to her, and Emmett showing such care. She couldn't offer much guidance and love, because she would more than likely try to attack her whenever she would come near.

It had taken a while for Carlisle to manage to calm his wife. Esme loathed herself for failing this child, because she had indeed promised something that she had not kept. The pain of the change was the most excruciating sensation anyone could experience - nobody could ever have hurt this girl worse than this.

She felt incredibly bad about the broken promise, but hopefully Maddie would forgive her some day. But they couldn't have let her die and there just had been no other way! Just like Carlisle had said that he would have taken the pain for her, Esme would have done the same.

Alice suddenly screwed her face up in thought. "Hm. Feeding is an instinct, isn't it? Shouldn't she have been able to take care of that on her own?"

"It's a bear and not a human - not exactly the usual vampire prey. And I have the feeling that Jasper's gift is able to make her think more rationally. He calms her mood, and that way she can think more or less clearly. At least her thoughts weren't frantic anymore the moment he stepped in," Edward explained, then added, "It is quite fascinating."

"I hope he doesn't exhaust himself by controlling her emotions over such a long time frame," Esme remarked. Of course she would constantly be concerned about each and everyone in this family.

"He'll be fine, Esme, he is experienced," Carlisle said to soothe her worries.

They continued to clean the bedroom, trying to rid it of anything broken.

"It could have been worse," Alice sighed and went to pick up the big pieces of glass from the mirror lying all over the floor.

"Oh well, shards bring good fortune," Esme replied and placed a bucket on the floor next to Alice so she could put the broken fragments in it.

Edward looked up and smirked at his mother. "Do you think so?" They had more than enough shards, but they also had a raging newborn to care for - that would probably annul each other.

"Well, I do hope so."

"Difficult times lie ahead, so we could use good fortune," Carlisle affirmed and rubbed Esme's back in a comforting manner.

* * *

><p>When they reached the edge of the forest they had come in from, Maddie stopped abruptly.<p>

"What's wrong? Why are you stopping?" Emmett asked with a frown.

Shee stared at them but did not talk.

Emmett gestured for her to follow him. "Come on, we're going home."

That brought a hiss from the girl's throat.

Rosalie looked at her with concern in her eyes. "Sshh, what's going on? Tell me."

"I'm not going back in there," Maddie said petulantly while narrowing her eyes.

"What? But why, Maddie?" She had an idea why, but she wanted her to say it so they could talk about it. Rosalie knew that she would be the one to explain everything to this girl, since she wasn't willing to listen to Carlisle. And that wouldn't change for a while, she assumed.

"I don't want to," she stated matter-of-factly. She could do whatever she wanted, couldn't she? They weren't her family, and she didn't belong here.

"It's the only home we have," Rose told her.

"It's not _mine,_" Maddie said, making it sound as if they were all completely dim-witted.

"It is now," Emmett told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Oh, hell no._

She growled menacingly.

"Okay, shush, calm down, calm down," he uttered and took a step back.

Maddie breathed heavily, but eventually calmed some.

Rosalie addressed her once more. "Where else would you want to go, hm?"

"Back to San Francisco." The girl shrugged her shoulders. She had no clue where she was and she didn't know how to get back to California, but still - everything was better than staying here.

"Maddie. Please, let us go inside and talk about it. There is still so much you need to know about this life," Rosalie tried.

"I'll manage."

"It isn't as easy as it may seem."

Maddie snorted. "I'll figure it out," This wasn't rocket science - she would just have to drink blood from now on and tell people she was wearing some crazy contacts.

But Rose did not give up as they couldn't let a newborn who was barely an hour old roam the country and sparkle in the sun. The Volturi would have a field day ripping her apart and then killing them one by one. "I'm sure you could do that, but it'll be quicker and easier if you would just listen to me."

Maddie didn't move, so Rosalie tried again.

"Let's talk, just you and me. I would like to explain some things to you."

Weirdly enough, the dark-haired newborn suddenly felt herself completely calm and open to Rose's request. Just like that.

She nodded, and they walked closer to the house.

But Maddie stopped again.

"We could sit on the porch, how does that sound?" Rose suggested suddenly as she noticed her hesitance once more.

The girl looked wary. With her eyes she followed Jasper and Emmett, who went right into the house and then closed the door behind themselves.

"It's on the other side of the house. We don't need to enter for that, all right?"

She gave a curt nod, indicating that she would comply. Information couldn't hurt, right?

So they walked around the house, passing the driveway.

Oddly enough, there was a big icy surface in the middle of the driveway, with a trail off to the side, where more ice was glistening in the dim light. The rest was ice-free... what was wrong here? The lawn was snow-covered, the driveway free of snow. Where the hell was the ice coming from? It was too cold for the snow to melt already.

She eyed the spot intently, but walked past it to reach the side of the house where a porch with a swing hammock was located.

It did look cozy... and expensive.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable," Rosalie told her.

Maddie seated herself on the edge, then waited for Rose to sit down and speak.

Rosalie sighed after seating herself and looking over at the girl. "There is a lot of sunshine in California."

Maddie rolled her eyes, then nodded her head. She _knew_ that, she came from there.

"You cannot go out into the sun."

And suddenly the girl's expression hardened as she realised that someone was obviously lying to her. Why would she want to stay somewhere where everyone was just trying to manipulate her by telling her anything but the truth? She was definitely better off on her own. "_He_ said I wouldn't burn in the sun."

"Well, you wouldn't burn and you wouldn't get hurt from the sunlight. But still - you cannot be seen in the sun."

Scraping some dried blood off her nose, Maddie just stared at her. "Huh?"

"Your skin looks unnatural in the sun, people would get suspicious."

"What happens?" She so did not like these news. Well, she was curious all right, but she still didn't like the fact that she kind of didn't know anything about herself anymore.

"I could show you tomorrow."

Maddie turned her head away from Rose and crossed her arms defiantly. "I can find out myself."

Of course she would say that, Rosalie thought. She cleared her throat to catch her attention and continue. "Okay, next point: You cannot go into the city."

"Seriously?" The girl asked while whipping her head back around and focussing her vivid red eyes on her - she sounded incredulous.

"The smell of the bear was nice, wasn't it? And you just had to feed off of him, didn't you? Nothing could have stopped you."

Maddie bit her lip, then nodded her head. "Yeah."

"You see, it is even worse with humans."

"So they taste better?" That was a very helpful information. She never _ever_ wanted to drink moose blood again, ugh. But hearing that there was something very yummy out there, just waiting for her to feed on, was perfect! And there were 6 billion of them!

"Maddie, please, I am trying to tell you how dangerous it is. And we don't hunt humans."

"Why?" Now that didn't make any sense to her. If it smelled nice and alluring, why drink something disgusting instead? They were vampires, right? Strong and fast and thirsty - unstoppable. Free to do whatever the fuck they wanted.

"It is wrong. They have families and friends, and it would destroy all their lives."

Maddie stared at her with a blank facial expression, like what Rosalie had just told her did not touch her, at all.

But all of a sudden she felt sad. Really sad. _Incredibly sad._

She nodded her head.

"You don't want to be the reason for that, now do you?" Rose asked softly and glanced at Maddie.

Maddie hung her head in shame.

"See? Neither of us wants to be the reason for something horrible like that. That is why we hunt animals only."

Judging by Maddie's subdued behaviour, Rosalie knew Jasper was behind all that. Newborns were normally in a frenzy, and they weren't able to feel compassion or sadness.

He obviously tried to make her more receptive to what she would tell her, and to make her open to the idea of staying with them. It was incredibly helpful, but Rose felt a little pang of guilt. It wasn't right to make her stay even though she clearly didn't want to be here. Well, Maddie didn't know anything about them, but she couldn't blame her for not wanting to get to know them.

"Animals only," Maddie replied as if she was trying to memorise it.

"It would be too dangerous for you to come near humans."

"But humans are _everywhere_! Where am I supposed to go?" Her blood-red eyes were suddenly fixed on Rose and she sounded a little whiny.

Rosalie had just one single word for her. "Stay."

Maddie snorted. "Like hell I will."

"Think about it: You'll have a room all to yourself and nobody would be allowed to enter without your consent. If you want or need something, we'll make sure you get it. In addition we could teach you everything you need to know about this life, and there are no humans around for several miles."

"Alaska is huge, I'll find a place free of humans."

"But on your way to that place, you might run across some. Don't risk it. Maddie, please," Rose pleaded with her. It was on her to convince Maddie of staying. They were responsible for her now and therefore they needed to make sure that she would maintain a low profile.

"I'm not going back in there," Maddie stated and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't sound fierce anymore, just unwilling.

Rosalie turned in her seat to face Maddie completely now. "You don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to."

"No."

"Maddie-"

"Listen, _blondie_. I'm leaving now and don't you dare follow me," she growled at her before shooting up from her seat, ready to run.

But as soon as Maddie's anger had come, it was gone. Shee turned and looked back at Rose, a little apologetic.

Rose noticed the change in the newborn's expression and so she pretended like the girl had never growled at her. "Come now. Don't you want to clean up first? You can still leave afterwards. But looking like this, it might be a little hard to get around."

Maddie thought about it. Rosalie was right, and she felt comfortable in her presence. So eventually, she nodded.

"Very good. Let's go inside, I am sure no one you don't want to see will be there," Rose told her, a little louder than necessary to make sure there really wouldn't be anyone walk up to them.

* * *

><p>"You're home! How was your hunt?" Esme exclaimed when she saw Jasper and Emmett enter the house.<p>

"It was good," Jasper replied curtly.

Esme looked puzzled when Emmett closed the door behind himself. "Where are the girls?"

"Maddie isn't willing to come back inside, so now Rosalie tries to explain some things to her," Emmett told her.

"Is it safe for her to be alone with the girl? She is awfully young." Esme got a little nervous.

Jasper answered in order to alleviate her worries. "I'll stay close and handle her emotions. It is a little harder than I thought, but it's been a while since I have been in the presence of newborns."

When he made to walk on, Esme spoke again.

"How trying is it for you?" She was concerned.

He sighed. "I have never met one so young. She has so much anger inside of her that it kept on pushing back, no matter how often I suppressed it. But it's not a problem anymore, now that she has fed."

"So you cannot control all of her emotions?"

"Well, I certainly can, it was just surprising how much more trying it is with her. Must be her age and the circumstances why she was changed." It was clear to him that her anger and confusion had a lot to do with her being here. Her family dead, strangers all around her, she looked and felt different... and then the pain. He had a lot of sympathy for her.

"But hunting had helped her, I assume?" Esme questioned.

"Yes, she is calmer now, much easier to control. Still, I don't like the idea of Rosalie being alone with her," Jasper told her and walked into the living room to be closer to them and to be able to step in in case something happened.

* * *

><p>"See? Everything is all right," Rosalie said while opening the front door. She held it open so Maddie could look inside and see that the people she didn't like weren't there. Actually - nobody was there.<p>

So Maddie nodded her head.

"Come along then." Rose walked inside, the girl following behind her, and then they ascended the stairs.

"This way," she chirped and led the girl into one of the big bathrooms. She immediately busied herself with drawing a bath, pouring nice smelling bubble bath stuff into the water.

She straightened up and turned around to address her. "I'll go get some clean clothes for you. Would you like to choose yourself?"

"No. I'm fine with whatever you have," Maddie replied softly.

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute. You could use the time to undress and get into the tub," Rosalie suggested and smiled encouragingly at the girl.

She smiled back and nodded her head.

So Rosalie left and shut the door behind herself to give her privacy to disappear in the huge amounts of foam before she would come back to bring her perfectly fitting clothes that had been solely chosen for her.

The moment Maddie was alone in the bathroom, she dropped the fake smile and scanned the room quickly.

Realising that she was all by herself now, she rushed over to the big window and opened it carefully, trying not to break anything and to make as little noise as possible.

With a last glance over her shoulder, she then climbed up onto the window sill and jumped out.

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><p><strong>So ... what's going to happen next?<strong>

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	19. Chapter 19

** **Hello readers!****

****TwilightMusicLife93: Oh, thank you! Exam is over and it's gonna be all right ... I hope. :-)****

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><p>Maddie landed effortlessly right on her feet. The snow crunched a little from the impact, but the sound was barely audible.<p>

Glancing up at the window to make sure nobody had noticed her leaving, she then turned back around and got ready to sprint into the forest, away from that house, when she heard someone say, "Seriously, what's up with you and windows?"

She snapped her head around to see who the hell was talking to her.

Over there, leaning against the exterior wall of the house, were Emmett and Jasper. They watched her curiously.

She hissed menacingly, then made to run but all of a sudden she felt no uneasiness or loathing anymore.

It was like her motives for leaving had left her mind... or something. This house suddenly didn't disgust her anymore.

_Why?_

Emmett uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the wall, slowly approaching her.

"What happened?" he asked, sounding a little concerned.

That puzzled Maddie. _Why would he even give a shit? _"Huh?"

"I thought you would be staying." There was a little spark of sadness in his eyes as well as in his voice and Maddie didn't understand why. And she certainly didn't understand why anyone would care. They didn't know her, and she didn't know them.

"I-," she started to say, but got interrupted by a sudden exclamation of "Oh, thank goodness! There you are!"

She looked into the direction the voice came from and saw Rose looking out of the bathroom window, holding a hand over her unbeating heart.

"Maddie," she chided, "is that really necessary? We have talked about this."

"Don't wanna take a bath, huh?" Emmett asked with a goofy grin on his face.

Maddie blinked a couple of times, completely confused now.

_Why the fuck were they treating her like a child? _She wasn't running from the stupid bath, but from this house! At least that had been her plan before.

And why the hell were they speaking to her like they knew her or something?

She was aware that she had spent a couple of days here, even before the pain. But now it seemed more like she had been here for several months and they knew her inside out - but she still didn't know them.

She didn't belong here - so what did they want from her? They didn't owe her anything and she definitely didn't owe them anything, so why bother?

She shifted from one foot to the other and swallowed nervously.

"Are you coming upstairs again?" Rosalie demanded, still standing in the window with her hands on her hips and looking down at Maddie.

Maddie gazed at her.

"Fine, I'm coming down then," Rosalie said decisively and, just like Maddie had done before, she jumped out of the window and landed between the guys and the girl.

Even though Maddie had done the same just a moment ago, it startled her to see Rose jumping out of a freaking window, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"What?" She smirked. "I can jump, too."

Maddie was still not talking.

Rosalie straightened up and casually flipped her long, blond hair back over her shoulder.

"Is something frightening you?" she then asked carefully and took a hesitant step towards her.

Maddie stared at her for a minute, then blinked once.

_Okay, they were nice to her... but why?_

They couldn't like her, because they didn't _know_ her.

"Come, let's go upstairs again. I'll stay with you, okay? No one will come near you, rest assured."

The newborn's gaze turned softer, like she was slowly giving in.

The little difference in her eyes did not go unnoticed by Rose, of course, so she offered her hand for her to take.

Jasper, still standing a few feet away tensed when he saw Rose doing so, but this time he didn't say anything.

Biting her lip, Maddie contemplated what to do. But then she remembered what Rose had said while she had been in pain. She had told her she wouldn't leave her side, and she really hadn't. And the way she had growled at Esme when she had suggested Carlisle coming upstairs had shown Maddie that she would keep him away. She obviously didn't like him herself.

Looking Rose in the eyes, then at her hand and back up in her eyes, she then reached out and let Rose take her by the hand.

Rose smiled, then decided it might help to start a little chat in order to ease the tension. "I have found a blouse for you. Do you like yellow?"

Maddie made a face while answering. "No."

"Really? I think it's a pretty colour," Rosalie replied. A casual conversation would help getting to know each other a little better, so she wanted to keep it up.

"Pus is yellow. And pee."

Rose frowned - that was definitely not what she had expected the girl to say.

"But daffodils are yellow, too, and they are very pretty. And it symbolises the sunlight."

"And snot. And puke," Maddie went on as if she hadn't heard Rose tell her why she thought the colour was beautiful.

Clearing her throat quickly, Rosalie then exclaimed, "All right, all right! You are nauseating me. I'll get you something different to wear, no problem."

"I have heard that the blood of sea cucumbers is yellow, too. But sea cucumbers are weird anyways... they look like wriggly penises." Maddie shrugged and walked with Rosalie into the direction of the front door.

Rosalie's eyes grew wide and she quickened her pace, dragging the red-eyed girl along.

"C'mon Rose! Let's talk some more!" Emmett laughed and got himself a warning look from his wife. It really was fun having Maddie around, Emmett thought. She had the natural ability to abash Rose... without actually knowing it.

"You can call them penis fish actually, it fits much better than sea cucumber." They heard her say, before Rose opened the door and they vanished into the house.

Emmett was having a blast, as always.

"What are you doing with her?" he asked his brother in between laughs, holding himself up against the exterior wall of the house.

Jasper held his hands up. "I'm not doing anything! The change itself must have triggered it. I am just suppressing her anger and mistrust and make her feel at ease," he replied before laughing along. He normally wasn't too fond of talks like that - just like Rose - but knowing how much it shocked his sister was just hilarious.

* * *

><p>"What are you two laughing at?" Carlisle queried when his two sons entered the house through the garage.<p>

He and Esme had retracted themselves half an hour ago, so that Maddie wouldn't run into them. This house was the safest place for her to be, and if sitting in the garage or the kitchen for an hour or two to make her stay, then so be it.

"Very entertaining, that little one," Emmett commented and nodded his head, still laughing a little.

"So she is in a good mood?" Esme asked with bright eyes.

Jasper cleared his throat. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but right now she is more or less comfortable staying with Rose."

"And what is so funny about that? I think it is fantastic that she lets her be near her!"

"Oh, we weren't laughing about that. Rose is great with her, no doubts. But when Jasper is controlling her mood, she becomes quite chatty," Emmett smirked.

Esme started smiling. "Well, what did you talk about?" She was so curious, she wanted to know everything about the girl and wished for her to feel at home in this house soon.

"Sea cucumbers."

Jasper snorted at his brother's answer.

They left the room then, leaving their parents in the dark about the sweet little chat between Rosalie and Maddie.

* * *

><p>"Here we go," Rose said when they entered the bathroom again. She let go of Maddie's hand and walked over to the window to close it.<p>

"You know, they have a little hole at the head and-"

Rose whirled around, her eyes wide. "Maddie, sweetie, enough chit-chat. Why don't you go get in the tub while I choose a different shirt for you? Something in a more... neutral colour?" Well, she did like seeing her so talkative, but she would prefer a different topic.

Maddie nodded, not noticing Rose trying to shut her up. "Okay."

"Good. I'll be right back," she told her, then snatched the yellow blouse from the chair and walked out of the door. Yellow was out of the question from now on... and every other colour that looked like bodily fluids or any other by-products of the human or animal body.

"And stay away from the window!" she called before closing the door behind herself.

Standing in the middle of the room all alone, Maddie felt a little awkward. Everything in here was white, brilliant white, and spotless. She had never seen such a clean bathroom in her life.

Her eyes fell on a mirror to her right, right over the wash basin.

She looked at her reflection and her eyes grew wide.

Maybe the contrast to the pristine room was making this so unreal, because she was a _mess..._ she could easily star in a zombie movie looking like this, she figured.

Her hair hung from her head in filthy strands and the clothes she was wearing were ruined... and they weren't even hers.

But at least her face didn't look as shockingly white anymore, what with all the blood smears on it now.

She got undressed then, but suddenly gasped when she noticed something.

Hurrying over to the vanity standing in one corner of the room, she sat down on the stool in front of it and turned around so she could look at her shoulder in the mirror. Reaching up, she let her hand stroke her skin there, as if not believing what she was seeing.

The most prominent scar she has ever had was gone. Completely gone.

She could only feel smooth skin, perfect skin, like getting burnt had never happened.

Maddie still sat there on the chair in her underwear, holding a hand to her shoulder and eyes fixed on the reflection in the mirror when Rose entered again and looked at her.

"You're still not in the tub," she said and laid a shirt - light grey this time - on the chair.

Seeing that Maddie wasn't reacting to what she had said, she slowly approached her, letting her notice her in the mirror into which she was staring as to not startle her.

"It's gone," she affirmed, knowing what had engulfed the girl's attention.

"How?" Maddie whispered, never taking her eyes off her reflection with which she was able to observe her shoulder.

"It's the venom. It heals wounds."

Maddie turned her head around and looked up at Rose, confusion prominent in her eyes.

"I'll explain to you, get in," Rosalie replied and pointed to the tub.

Turning around to grant the girl some privacy, she waited until Maddie had undressed and made herself comfortable in the foamy bath water, then turned back around and walked to the tub, sitting on the rim.

"Venom is what changed you. The moment it enters the blood stream, it starts to spread, heal your wounds and transform your body. Now you are carrying venom, too."

Maddie narrowed her bright red eyes in thought before she asked, "So... I'm like a snake?"

Rose smirked while grabbing a washcloth and dipping it into the water.

"Snakes have fangs. Their venom is modified saliva, whereas you have no fangs and the venom is everywhere in your body. But it also functions as saliva."

"So... I'm like a snake?" Maddie asked again. It was a little difficult to understand what the hell had happened to her body.

"You are not like a snake. The venom of snakes works differently as it poisons you and then you die."

Maddie frowned, not getting what Rose had just said. "But I _am_ dead."

"You are not dead, just... different." It sounded as if Rose was trying to tell her that the mean children at school weren't laughing _at_ her, but _with_ her.

"Ha ha. My heart doesn't beat anymore... I could feel it stop, that was weird."

"I've told you you wouldn't need a heartbeat anymore, because we are a different species now."

"We're aliens?" Maddie squinted up at Rose.

Rose sighed.

"I don't think that our kind is from out of space. But if 'aliens' have been human before and are now just like us, then fine... we're aliens. Whatever you wish to call it. But the right term is vampire," Rosalie replied and made to clean Maddie's face with the washcloth.

Maddie flinched and scooted away from Rose, glowering at her.

Rosalie withdrew her hand immediately. "Don't be afraid, I just wanted to clean your face."

She relaxed a little, then let her hand poke out of the water.

"I can do it myself," she told her and waited for Rose to place the washcloth into her hand. She wasn't hurt anymore, so she was capable of washing herself, thank you very much.

And she couldn't tolerate too much physical contact after having endured such horrible pain. It was maybe tolerable for her if someone touched her hands, but anything else? Nuh-uh, no way. Too soon.

Maddie started to drag the cloth across her face in order to clean it, then asked, "How long was I..."

"It usually takes about three days. You were conscious for two."

Wow. It was disturbing to know that she had suffered for such a long time. It made it more real somehow. While she had been lying on the bed, feeling her body burning from the inside, she didn't have a clue if it had been minutes, hours or days. And it was also disturbing that she had been unconscious for a whole day... and she had no clue what had happened around her during that time or who had been near her.

"I heard piano music."

"Yes, Edward played for you." Rosalie nodded and smiled. She knew that Maddie had liked it and she was thankful that Edward had been willing to do something for the girl. It probably had been favourable for both of them - Maddie had gotten music to focus on while experiencing the change and Edward could concentrate on something different than hearing her desperate and frantic thoughts.

Maddie bit her lip before cautiously asking, "You stayed with me the whole time... like you promised?" She hoped and thought that Rose had, but somehow she needed confirmation right now.

Rosalie nodded. "Yes, like I promised."

She wanted to reassure the girl, make her see that this wasn't the wrong place for her to be. And she had nobody left - she needed someone to care for her, no matter how tough she tried to seem.

"Why?"

Rose was a bit taken aback. "Would you have preferred to go through the transformation all alone?"

Maddie looked scared when she answered.

"No," she whispered.

"And that is why I stayed with you," Rose explained and nodded her head reassuringly.

"Thank you," she said quickly, then dived under to get her hair clean.

Rose opened a bottle of shampoo and gave it to her, letting her take care of washing her hair on her own.

When Maddie was done, Rosalie grabbed some fluffy towels from the white closet next to the window and brought them over to the tub. They were - how could it be any different - white.

Spreading one out, she then held it up and turned her head away. Maddie appreciated that gesture, wrapped the towel around her body and got out of the bathtub.

When she was standing on the bathroom rug, the towel wound around her petite frame, Rose turned around again and offered her another towel for her hair.

"Do you want me to step outside so you can get dressed?" Rosalie asked.

"Just turn around," the dark-haired girl replied. As long as Rose was in this room with her nobody would come in, therefore she wanted her to stay. Besides, she remembered having taken a bath in her presence before, and that hadn't been too awkward either.

"But no peeking!" She reminded Rose with a finger pointed at her.

"No peeking," Rosalie promised solemnly and nodded her head.

After Maddie had quickly changed into some brand-new, clean clothes and brushed her hair, they suddenly heard a knock on the door.

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><p><strong>Next chapter is really close to be done! I'll update... soon! <strong>

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	20. Chapter 20

**Hello!**

**Here is the next chapter! I hope I'll be able to update more during the next couple of days, we'll see! **

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><p>"<em>Rose?<em>" They heard being called from the hallway.

Maddie took a step back and immediately Rose held a hand up to calm her before answering, "Yes, Alice?"

"_Are you two done in there? I want to show Maddie her new room!_" Alice chirped excitedly, still her usual bubbly self.

Rosalie turned back to face Maddie. "It's just Alice. It's okay if she comes in, isn't it?"

And Maddie shrugged her shoulders.

So Rosalie opened the door to reveal a bouncing Alice.

"Hello!" She danced into the room, then looked the newborn up and down and her smile faltered a little bit. She turned to Rose and asked with a frown, "I thought you had chosen a yellow blouse for her?"

"She doesn't like that colour, so she doesn't have to wear it."

That didn't make any sense to Alice. She had chosen that shirt, so Maddie indeed had to wear it. Who was Rose to tell her otherwise?

But then she gazed at the girl, her head tilted to the side, and asked, "Why don't you like yellow? It's pretty."

Rose decided to change the topic before Maddie would start explaining again. "What did you say about a new room, Alice?"

"Oh, right." Alice beamed at the young girl. "Your room is now right next to Rose and Emmett's. It's bigger than the other one and the closet is bigger, too."

Maddie looked confused so she took her eyes off Alice and looked at Rose instead, waiting for her to tell her if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Rose smiled. "That's wonderful news, don't you think?"

"Come, come, come! I want to show it to you!" Alice urged.

"Go ahead," Rose gave Maddie a nod, indicating to her that she should follow Alice.

So they left the bathroom and walked down the hall until they reached the last door on the left.

Alice opened the door wide and called, "Tadaa!"

Maddie looked inside.

"What do you think? Do you like it?" the pixie asked in a rush.

"Let her take a look first, Alice," her blonde sister chided.

"Come on, go inside," Alice said and took a step to the side so Maddie could enter.

Maddie noticed that the room had a window, so she could at least leave in case they would lock her in or something. She still didn't know these people so God knows why they were keeping her here and what they were planning on doing with her.

The room was indeed bigger than the last one. The bed was the same, so they had probably carried it in here. Now there was a desk, too. It was of a dark brown colour, just like the dresser, the bedside table, the bookshelf and the vanity. _Why would she ever need a vanity?_

She detected a TV and a stereo, a little collection of DVDs and CDs lay next to them.

The single bookshelf in the corner was filled with books. They obviously wanted to keep her busy... or distracted...

"You _have_ to see the closet! It's a walk-in closet and I have chosen a wardrobe for you. I hope you like pink." Well, Alice didn't really hope she would like the colour, because she had chosen the clothes for her to wear, not for her to like.

Maddie took a few steps towards Alice to see what she was talking about. And indeed: this closet, which was almost as big as this room by the way, was filled with clothes.

How could they possibly have so many spare clothes lying around?_ In her size?!_

"They are new," she commented.

Alice snorted. "Of course they are. Do I look like I go shopping in thrift shops?" And then she rolled her eyes to show the girl how ludicrous the mere thought of her going there was.

"So they are your clothes?"

"I've just told you they are _yours_!" she replied indignantly.

_Okay, Alice was bonkers, that much was clear._

But Maddie had trouble understanding. "Why do you give me a room? And why a bigger one?"

"Well, we thought you might like to be closer to Rose. And bigger is always better, so this room was perfect. _And_ the wall isn't cracked, by the way, which makes it a little more cosy, too," Alice told her, trying to make the thought of staying in this room more tempting for the girl.

Maddie distorted her mouth. She hadn't wanted to break the wall, it just happened. But she would do it again without hesitating if that guy would come near her again. Fucker.

"It's okay, things like that happen. I have pushed Jasper into a wall once, too... even though that had been on a different occasion and for a completely different reason...," she replied thoughtfully.

"All right! What do you think? Are you okay with this room?" Rosalie said hastily, not wishing for Alice to explain further.

"Why am I here?" Maddie asked the two of them. The confusion she had felt for the last couple of hours had made her forget to ask the most basic question: _Why was she here?_

"This is your new room," Alice said, making it sound as if Maddie was a tad bit stupid. She had just explained it to her, hadn't she?

"_Why the fuck am I here?!_ With you? What do you want from me?"

"I thought you might ask that," Alice remarked... but that was all she said.

Maddie's jaw dropped.

_Was this supposed to be the answer to her question?! Was this crazy girl making fun of her?!_

"Maddie, stay calm, she'll explain to you now. Right, Alice?" Rosalie said before Maddie would explode.

Rose herself certainly didn't want to be the one explaining the why and how. They all had weaseled themselves out of telling her when she had still been human, but now they should finally build up the courage to let her know - it couldn't go on like this.

"It's a little early for that, Rose," Alice said apologetically.

"_Are you shitting me?!_" Maddie yelled.

"Shush," Rosalie said to her, then turned to Alice. "What are you waiting for? You owe her an explanation."

Alice looked reluctant, but then sighed. "_Fine._ When you were going through the change, did you hear Rose tell you that I happen to have visions?"

Maddie just stared at her, fuming.

"Is it really that absurd to you? Look what you have turned into."

Okay, maybe it wasn't that weird for someone to actually have visions, but what she had turned into was nothing she could have influenced. It had been _done to her. _That just infuriated her further.

"I had visions about you. Being injured, half dead. I got more over time and that way we knew where to find you," Alice explained guardedly, already having taken a step back.

"SO ALL OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT?!" Maddie roared, crouching a little. Her eyes were blazing with hate and rage.

That was when Jasper entered, rushing in front of Alice to shield her in case Maddie would charge. He had noticed her increasing irritation, and then her sudden rage.

He was already in his fighting stance when Maddie started growling viciously, her teeth bared. But he did not growl back, but just ordered, "Calm yourself."

Maddie frowned at what was happening. Her blind fury was vanishing, and instead she felt... vulnerable and lonely. It was like her whole world was breaking apart, it ripped at her heart and she cringed at the intensity of emotional distress that was surging through her.

The look in her eyes changed from wild and angry to pained. She took a step back and averted her eyes.

Rose stood there, watching, and she was far from happy to say the least.

She understood that Jasper had to alter her emotions so she wouldn't harm his mate, but that change was a bit drastic. The poor girl looked sad and devastated, and Rose was sure that she was about to cry.

So she walked slowly towards Maddie as to not startle her and whispered her name.

Maddie took another step back and bit her lip to keep herself from crying. It took everything she had in her to not break out into tears in front of these strangers.

"Get out," Rosalie snapped at Alice and Jasper.

They hesitated for a second, but then complied.

The moment the door closed, Rosalie turned back to Maddie, addressing her once more.

"It is a lot to take in, isn't it?" she asked in a soft, sympathetic voice.

The young newborn turned away from her, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if that way she was trying to hold herself together.

They just stood there for some time, until Maddie whispered, "Why me?"

Rosalie had no answer for that, so all she could tell her was, "I don't know."

"That's all you have to say?!" Maddie queried while whipping around and wiping at her eyes. They were filled with venom, and it stung a little.

"Look, Alice cannot influence what she sees. It just happens."

She looked baffled. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? _It just happens?_"

"Please, let us sit down and talk about it. We could sit on your bed," Rosalie suggested.

"That isn't my bed and this isn't my room," she growled. "I don't belong here."

"Maddie -"

"_Just let me go!_" she shouted before the sobs started. "I wanna go..."

Rose couldn't help herself then. She closed the distance between them in two quick strides and wrapped her arms around the girl, who went rigid as she did so.

Maddie didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be touched, it was too much, too personal, she couldn't take it.

But it kinda felt good, too. Like there was someone who cared and wanted to make her feel better. It was as if she didn't need to carry the burden alone.

And so she wept.

She wept for her Mom and her little baby brother. She wept over the unfairness of it all, her pain and the heavy forlornness she felt right then.

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><p>"Jasper, that was harsh," Edward remarked when Alice and Jasper entered the living room after having left the girl's new room.<p>

Jasper glanced at him, then uttered, "I had to do something, she was about to attack Alice."

Edward let out a long moan at that answer. "She's just a child. You are making her fall apart up there."

"Rosalie will take care of it," Alice chimed in. She had seen it, after all. That was why she wasn't willing at first to tell her about why she was here, because she had seen her flip. She wouldn't like her much now. But the good news was that Rose was handling the situation just like she had seen her do. She had been right, it was better to let the girl know now and thereby motivate her to bond with Rosalie instead of leaving her in the dark for even longer.

"You cannot make Rose take care of everything, it isn't right," Edward countered.

Alice blinked at him in confusion. "But she wants to, you know she does."

"Yes, but it is trying for her, too," he told his family. Rosalie was more than willing to help the girl with her confusion and anger, she wanted to help her feel at home here. But it wasn't easy for his blonde sister to see the girl suffer.

"What can we do about it? I don't think she would let anyone of us be near her," Esme remarked.

"Could you at least make her feel a little better now, Jasper? Stop punishing her," Emmett demanded. He had overheard Maddie yell at Alice, then had descended the stairs when he had heard the poor child crying heartbreakingly. He didn't want her to be sad, and he knew how it hurt Rosalie to see her that way.

"I have to lift the sadness gradually, otherwise it would make everything worse. The mood swings are not to be taken lightly."

"Why did you have to make her so forlorn in the first place? Just take the anger from her," Emmett ground out. He liked Maddie, she was fun and as her big brother it was his job to protect her.

"That wouldn't have been enough. It is better to replace an emotion instead of just taking it away," Jasper explained.

Emmett was adamant. "Replace it with happiness!"

"Happiness," Jasper commented dryly.

"Yes!"

"Look, I have to take something that is already there and then increase it. There isn't even the tiniest spark of_ happiness_ in her, so how am I supposed to do that?"

Emmett swallowed heavily at hearing that. No happiness? But children were supposed to be happy, weren't they?

"How is she feeling now, Jasper?" Carlisle asked him. He certainly did not like the turn this had taken. It probably was hard enough for Maddie to be here, to have woken from the pain mere hours ago - she didn't need to have fake mood swings on top of that.

"Better."

"Edward?" Carlisle addressed Edward now - he would know.

Edward looked reluctant to answer. He contemplated not answering, because - even though it would be helpful for the whole family to know more about the girl - he was invading her privacy by telling them everything. But Esme was blaming herself for the girl's suffering and felt completely helpless, so he needed to calm her.

"She is getting better. Rosalie is doing the right thing."

Carlisle frowned. "What is she doing?"

"She hugged her," Edward shrugged his shoulders.

Jasper's head shot up at hearing this. "She _what?!_" Was she out of her mind? It was incredibly dangerous to be that close to a newborn, let alone hug them! The girl's face would be too close to Rose's throat and she could kill his sister in a matter of seconds!

"Come on, she wouldn't harm Rose," Emmett threw in.

Jasper was astonished at his brother. His mate was in danger, and he did not seem to care at all. What an idiot! He would never allow his wife to be alone in a room with a newborn, because he knew how dangerous they could be! But Emmett obviously did not have any experience with newborns. "How can you have that much faith in her already?"

"She is just a girl, Jasper. And Alice has seen it, haven't you, Alice?"

"That's right," Alice smiled.

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><p>"It's all right," Rosalie cooed while rubbing Maddie's back. It felt odd to comfort somebody who she didn't know that well, and she didn't really know what exactly the little one was crying about, even though she did have an idea. She never got close to people who weren't her family and it had been like that for many, many years. But Maddie was family now, wasn't she?<p>

To Maddie it felt awkward to have somebody who cared, even though that person shouldn't care.

When she got calmer, she pulled away and blinked her eyes a couple of times because they stung.

Sniffling, she then wiped at them before looking down at her hands and asking in disgust, "_What is that stuff?!_" It didn't feel like tears, this fluid was much thicker, maybe even a little bit sticky. It was gross.

"It's venom," Rose answered.

"It's _everywhere_?" she sounded shocked.

"Yes."

And then Maddie saw the big blotches on Rose's blouse. The once white silk was now discoloured and it made her gasp, knowing that it had been _her venom_ that had caused the damage.

"Uh-oh. I really didn't mean to, I don't know why I...," she sputtered, but stopped when Rose held up a hand to silence her.

"It's just a shirt, don't worry," Rosalie replied softly. Her blouse was ruined now, there was no way to wash the stains the venom had left out again. But she had more than enough pretty clothes in her closet. And her concern was the little girl in front of her and not some meaningless piece of clothing.

"There are clothes in this closet," Maddie offered meekly and pointed over her shoulder at the door of the big walk-in closet.

Rose laughed. "Thank you, but mine is just next door. And please forget about this shirt as it was of no value to me."

Maddie wasn't convinced. "It looks expensive."

"That doesn't mean anything," she told her, before bending down a little so they would be on the same eye level. "Tell me, do you feel a little better now?"

"I don't know. I'm not sad anymore," Maddie replied and sniffled once more.

"That is good! I'm glad," Rose looked relieved.

Clearing her throat, the girl then said, "But I still don't wanna be here."

"Nevertheless this is the best place to be."

"Yeah, I died here, then I was burning for days and now I am some freaky alien thingy with icky stuff coming out of my blood-red eyes." Maddie commented and her voice held no humour.

"You are not dead -"

"- just different, I know," she scoffed in response.

"Maddie, when I promise you that I will keep anyone you don't want to see away from you, will you stay for a couple of days?" Rosalie tried. She had proven to her that she could trust her promises, hadn't she? And if she didn't want to stay because of certain people in this house, then she could easily change that, couldn't she?

She hesitated and gave Rose a scrutinising look. "Why are you being nice to me? It doesn't make sense."

"Is it so weird to you? Why wouldn't I be nice to you?"

"Because I'm a bad person," she said and made it sound as though it was a known fact.

"I don't believe that."

"You don't know me," she countered.

"Then give me a chance to get to know you, and then I'll tell you wether or not you are a bad person," Rosalie offered, and after a moment of silence added, "Don't leave, just try it for a couple of days. You have seen how strong you are now. With that strength, nothing can happen to you. And you'll have me as your guard dog."

She was right, Maddie realised. Having sent someone flying through the air and crashing into a wall, and having killed two animals without any additional weapons was proof of her strength. Plus she actually didn't know where to go. And Rosalie seemed like someone who wouldn't lie.

So Maddie nodded her head.

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><p><strong>REVIEW please :-)<strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry? **

**But you know I've been busy with my other stories ... ****_and_**** the wait is over now!**

**Hope you like the chapter :) **

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><p>Maddie felt forlorn and miserable, now more than ever.<p>

She was in a place she neither knew nor wanted to be in, people surrounded her that she had no desire to get to know. Everything was strange, their behaviour towards her was strange. But worst of all was how she was feeling.

There was this lingering pain in her throat; it was hardly bearable, and she wanted it gone. It dominated her way of thinking, it was always present, this one question: What could make it go away?

They had told her that they only drank animal blood, so that humans would remain unharmed. But why would she care? She was in pain, and wanted to change it so badly.

Human blood might be the key to that.

Then she had these erratic mood swings she couldn't make sense of - they were driving her insane. One second she was more or less calm, then the next she was angry. Then sad. Then angry again.

And sometimes, when the wish to leave this place to get away from these people and to look for something that would make the pain go away got nearly unbearable and she was in the process of jumping out of the window, said wish vanished. Well, not exactly the wish, but the feelings that drove her to try and get away from here.

No more uneasiness, no more loathe, nor more murderous desire to kill whatever would come near her.

It all vanished.

Then she felt oddly numb instead, sedated even.

Hence Maddie did not leave the room for several days. During that time, she only tolerated Rose to come in and keep her company. Emmett could peek into the room, she was okay with him, but that still didn't mean he could enter.

His build slightly unnerved her - he looked muscular and really strong. And even though he seemed nice and funny, Maddie just wasn't able to trust others so quickly.

It actually shouldn't be that hard for her, considering that she was really strong now. From now on she would be able to defend herself and that was soothing to know, but also oddly disturbing at the same time.

_What the heck had she turned into? _

Supernatural strength and speed, and senses sharper than anyone could ever imagine. _What for? _Why would she ever need that? She hadn't asked for it, she hadn't even known that something like that existed. And yet she got it... and at what cost? Feeling a constant pain in her throat - the haunting echo of the excruciating fire that had burnt her veins dry for days on end. And since that pain would never cease, she would always be reminded of these horrible, painful days and the people who did that to her.

In addition, she now had to deal with all these new impressions and the crazy mood changes.

So while she tried to understand her new existence, she needed some time to herself, and therefore stayed in 'her' room.

Ha, _her_ room.

There was no way she would ever consider this room _hers_. Or consider interacting with the others, who had taken her like a wild animal, only to play mind-games with her and inflict a pain worse than anything she had ever felt before.

Now she was _genetically modified_... or something - unable to ever change back.

And there was no escape from this life, because she couldn't die.

That's what that guy had told her.

_She couldn't die._

With these thoughts occupying her mind, Maddie spent most of the time sitting opposite the closed door - waiting, watching.

It was a precaution, so she could charge the moment someone entered without her consent. Rose had told her that no one would be allowed to step inside.

But Maddie needed proof. How would she know if Rose was really trustworthy?

She lived with these people, after all, so she might be just like them.

But time passed and after three full days Maddie noticed that Rose had indeed kept her promise, so she loosened up a little.

Well, more or less...

She was incredibly sick of this room.

There were several things that infuriated her.

Like... _Why did they give her a bed?_ To mock her, because she would never sleep again?

Or because it was a nice prop?

With her ivory-coloured skin, hard and smooth as marble, her finely chiselled features, and even her freakishly perfect hair, she truly looked like a porcelain doll.

And being in this room felt like living in a doll's house. Everything in here looked pretty, carefully selected and expensive, without actually being of any use. The lamps, the bed, the vanity ...

Oh, and a closet full of... hm. She didn't really know what was in there. When Alice had shown her this room and the walk-in closet, Maddie had only glanced inside.

Deciding to explore 'her' room and the closet a bit further, she stood up from the floor she had been sitting on and opened the door of the closet.

With one quick glimpse at the room door to make sure she couldn't be ambushed, she then skimmed through the amount of clothing.

Clothes for every occasion, all possible colours and shapes - it was all there.

She remembered that they had been solely chosen for her, and it suddenly made her angry.

Well, she had been angry before, but this pushed her over the edge.

So she started ripping the clothes off the hangers, tearing the fabric as if it was nothing more than thin paper. The ripping sounds were quite satisfying she noticed with a little smirk.

But still seething with anger, she stormed back into the room and opened the window.

Then she grabbed the pile of torn and shredded clothing from the floor of the walk-in closet, walked back into the room and then threw it forcefully out of the open window, wanting that stuff out of her sight.

The colourful pieces fluttered to the ground, littering the white snow like a shower of confetti. Some little scraps of cloth flew in the wind and even reached a few trees that lined the property.

When Maddie turned around again, she wasn't surprised to find Rose standing in the middle of the room, eyes darting about to check what she was doing now and what she had been doing mere seconds ago.

"What are you doing? What happened?" Rose asked with a frown and took one step closer to Maddie, but still kept her distance because the girl was clearly unhappy with something.

But all Maddie did was tilt her head to the side and shoot Rose a little, venomous smile.

She looked like the cat that swallowed the canary ... um, a very wicked cat. Or a very wicked kitten?

It had something unsettling to have Maddie smile like that, combined with her unnaturally red eyes that stared right back at her and burned with anger.

"Why did you open the window?" Rose asked warily.

She lifted one eyebrow. "I felt like it."

She was still angry, but Rosalie detected no aggressiveness directed at her personally, so she approached her slowly.

Maddie turned her back on her and gazed out of the window again, sighing a little as though she was enjoying the sight.

When Rosalie reached her and stopped right behind her, she lifted her head and looked over Maddie's shoulder to find out what she was looking at.

"You threw your clothes out?"

_Her clothes?_ They had been chosen for her, but that certainly didn't mean that she owned them or even wanted them.

"They are not mine. They are _hers_." And Maddie spat the words with so much loathing, that Rosalie took a step back in wise precaution.

The newborn whirled around and fixed her eyes on her, daring her to object.

"I am not some doll you can keep here," she growled.

"Of course you aren't," Rosalie replied in an even voice.

"_I don't want this,_" Maddie said through gritted teeth and nodded her head sideways towards the closet - the door was still wide open.

Rose nodded her head in understanding, careful now so Maddie's anger wouldn't be directed at her.

"_I don't want any of this,_" she said and went over to the book shelf, flicking her fingers against a few books and making them crash into the back of the shelf loudly.

"I understand."

Walking towards the closet, Rosalie saw that only a few shirts were left hanging and the hangers were still moving from the girl's attack mere seconds ago.

She eyed the remaining shreds of torn fabric lying on the floor, then whipped back around the second she heard another tearing sound.

"Stop!" she called and Maddie looked up at her, her face was so emotionless that it disturbed Rose.

The girl had obviously realised that she didn't like the grey shirt she was wearing and therefore decided to destroy it as well, because there was a long tear in the fabric from the neck right down to her belly button.

"What?" Maddie asked and let her hands drop to her sides.

Seeing that she wasn't angry anymore - probably once again due to Jasper's influence - Rosalie tzked.

"And what do you want to wear now, huh?" she demanded with her hands on her hips. Newborns were very impulsive, so it wasn't really Maddie's fault that she tore everything to shreds. But she needed to learn to get herself under control during the next few years, so using a stern voice with her now couldn't do any harm.

Maddie shrugged her shoulders and smirked at Rose, utterly proud that she had destroyed something that belonged to these people. And it probably angered them, because Rose didn't look too happy and she was the nicest one of them. So the others might be pissed now.

Good.

They could kick her out if they didn't like how she treated their stuff.

Rosalie shook her head, then walked over to the window and closed it. She could detect Emmett and Edward standing in the snow right underneath the window, eyeing the shredded clothes. When they had heard the ripping sounds and then the window being opened, their first reaction was to lurk around the house in case the girl intended to run.

Hopefully she hadn't seen them, Rose thought. It would only add fuel to the fire.

Facing the girl once more, she then leaned against the desk next to the window, her arms crossed.

Maddie held her gaze.

So Rosalie motioned towards the ripped shirt Maddie was wearing before crossing her arms once more, waiting for her to say something.

It was hard to tell, but Jasper must have meddled with her emotions yet _again_, because she started to look bored.

Well, bored people are neither angry nor do they attack someone.

"Maddie? _What do you want to wear now, huh?_ Or do you wish to walk around naked?" she asked and watched her approach the bed and then sitting down on the floor, leaning with her back against the bed frame.

"No?" Of course Maddie didn't want that. Right now her bra was showing underneath the ripped shirt - it wasn't embarrassing in front of Rose, but nobody else should see her that way.

"Then why did you rip everything?" Rosalie queried.

Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "Because I didn't want that stuff."

That answer made Rose groan. "You could have just told me."

The little miss looked in the opposite direction, lazily curling a strand of hair around her index finger.

"I'll give you some of my clothes now," Rose decided. "What would you like?"

Maddie reached back and put her hands on the bed frame, then lifted herself up to sit on the bed.

Swaying her legs a little, she looked like she was thinking about Rose's offer.

"A hoodie," she eventually said.

"A hoodie?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," she replied, looking at her with big eyes.

I'm sorry, I don't have any."

Rose couldn't quite decipher the look Maddie gave her then. It was scrutinising, but why?

The possibilities were that she thought she wanted to patronise her like the others did, trying to only give her clothes she approved of.

Or maybe Maddie thought that she didn't really want to share her clothes with her, and was only offering out of politeness.

But then an idea formed in Rose's head and she gave Maddie a bright smile.

"Wait a moment."

Leaving the room and heading for her own, she saw Emmett coming up the stairs.

"Come," she whispered and waved him closer.

He hurried towards her and together they entered their room.

Closing the door so they couldn't be overheard, Rose turned around and wanted to say something, but Emmett beat her to it.

"I don't know what's going on with the little one, but she has made quite a mess out there. Alice was beside herself."

Rosalie nodded her head. "She isn't very fond of Alice right now."

"I know and it's so sad, isn't it? Alice has waited months until she would finally-"

Rose didn't have time for that, so she interrupted him.

"I wanted to ask if you could give me one of your sweatshirts?"

He smirked. "Babe, you don't need to wear my clothes to show people we belong together."

Then he let himself fall backwards onto their bed and folded his arms behind his head, saying, "You look fantastic in your own clothes. I especially love this red low-cut dr-"

"Emmett," she quickly interrupted him before he could get carried away. "It's not for me. Maddie has ripped all her clothes and asked for a simple hoodie, but I don't have any."

Emmett's eyes widened as now he understood why she would ask. "Oh!" he exclaimed and started laughing.

"Sure, she can have whatever she wants. But I doubt that they'll fit." And if they would fit, it would be either very embarrassing for her or for him.

"I don't think she minds," Rose replied and opened their closet door to grab a dark blue hooded sweatshirt from the pile of clothes.

She looked at him over her shoulder and held it up for him to see. "Is that-"

"Of course, take as many as you want," he told her with a wave of his hand. He had tons of these and if his little baby sister liked them, she could have them all; he didn't mind. Anything to help her feel at home here.

"Thank you, darling," she said and gave him the most gorgeous smile.

Wow. Right now she must truly be happy, Emmett realised.

He winked at her, internally exploding with joy at seeing his wife smile like that again after the past week.

Rosalie opened the door and left the room, only to walk straight into Maddie's. She held up the hoodie she had chosen a moment ago.

"Catch." She grinned and threw it towards the girl, who caught it with ease.

She spread it out and gave Rose a quizzically look.

"Emmett is the only one who has hoodies, and he said you could take as many as you want from his closet."

Maddie still eyed the huge piece of clothing with a little smirk on her face when Rose spoke again.

"I'll let you change now. Let me know if you need anything else."

And with that, she left and closed the door behind herself.

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><p><strong>Phew! <strong>

**To be honest: I've shortened it (there was a second part), so you wouldn't have to wait any longer... and just so you know: I would have posted this chapter yesterday, but something was seriously wrong with my account, ugh.**

**But I'll update again soon, promise!**

**Don't forget to REVIEW!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello!**

**Thank you for your reviews, guys!**

**I'm glad you liked the last chapter and hope you like this one, too ;-)**

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><p>"All these pretty clothes ... she would have looked amazing wearing these. <em>Why would she do that<em>?" Alice whined while she stood in the living room, her arms wrapped around herself. She was watching Jasper through the window as he picked up the shredded pieces that once belonged to cashmere pullovers, silk dresses, flowered skirts and much more.

Esme put an arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"It's just a little too early for her to really understand what she has become; she isn't familiar with her new strength or the sudden mood changes. We'll just get new clothes for her, no problem, sweetheart," she said softly, and let her cheek rest on Alice's hair while gently running her hand up and down the girl's upper arm.

Edward stood up from an armchair and walked over to his mother and sister. "You better leave her alone. She'll do it again if you buy clothes or the like for her."

"Why? What do you mean?" Esme looked over her shoulder with a frown.

"She isn't interested in having anything to do with us. And if we give her something, it would make her feel like she owes us. She tries to avert that from happening."

"That is ridiculous," Alice scoffed.

She was aware that they had practically abducted her, so now_ they_ owed _her_. Alice wanted to offer her a beautiful life and whatever else she would need, just to make her happy. She herself didn't have a nice start into this life, so this girl should have it all. It was within their power to do so. "Why can't she just take advantage of us?" she asked, sounding distraught.

"Alice, she knows better than to do something like that," Esme said.

Alice just shrugged her shoulders - she would prefer for Maddie to use them to her advantage, so they could keep on buying pretty things for her and spoil her.

Suddenly her eyes lit up and she looked hopeful. "Maybe you got it wrong, Edward. Maybe she prefers custom-made clothes," she muttered, but it was clear in her voice that she wasn't really convinced of that.

"Right now she is wearing one of Emmett's hooded sweatshirts," Edward said to show them that the newborn really didn't want any clothes bought for her. And he wasn't just guessing what Maddie was thinking. No, he knew _exactly_ what she was thinking.

"I know...," Alice grumbled. She had bought so many perfect fitting clothes for her, and now she wore one of Emmett's old, baggy hoodies. "It's such a shame."

"Why would she wear Emmett's clothes?" Esme asked, positively puzzled.

"Rosalie wanted to give her some pieces from her wardrobe, and she wanted her to choose. But Rose did not have what she asked for," Edward explained to his mother.

But Esme was still not following. Emmett was a very big boy, and his clothes certainly were too big for a little girl. "Why did she accept Emmett's sweatshirt, but not the clothes in her own closet?"

"Because it's clearly not new," Edward explained. "She rather wears hand-me-downs, than have clothes bought for her and feel like a doll or a pet."

Now Esme understood where Maddie was coming from. To her this must seem like a nightmare - so much had happened in such a short time frame. And while she was still human she had been too sick to even move, otherwise she probably would have run away from them the moment she woke for the first time after the fire. Now she was changed and couldn't be among humans anymore _and_ was practically bound to them, even though she didn't feel like she belonged here. And she still couldn't understand the real reason for all this, couldn't grasp their motivation for changing her. Yes, she was told about Alice's gift, but there was probably still doubt. It would get clearer once Jasper and Edward would show her their gifts.

And Esme understood why Alice was feeling down. She had been so excited to meet the girl, to show her all the pretty things they had gotten for her.

It took them weeks to find furniture for the girl's room that might be to her liking. Yes, it was nothing but guesswork and a mix of their own tastes since they had never met her before, but nevertheless they had tried their best to provide the girl with a cosy and welcoming home.

But newborns weren't easy to handle or were, by any means, predictable. At least she hasn't broken much yet.

"I think these are great news. If she accepts something from Emmett, then it means she is warming up to him, too," Esme remarked with a loving smile - her motherly feelings shone through again.

Rose and Emmett were probably the right people to show Maddie this new kind of life - Rose was maternal and able to offer a newborn understanding and guidance as well as be firm when needed. And Emmett's laid-back personality and his sense of humour would be just right to deal with a child.

Naturally, Esme herself would love to fulfil said task, but unfortunately she made a promise she could not keep.

But she _had_ to reassure Maddie back when she was still human - the poor thing had been so sick and scared that it nearly broke her heart.

"Mom," Edward said to pull her out of her thoughts. "Don't beat yourself up over this. It'll be all right," he told her in an attempt to comfort her. Esme's mind was dominated by guilt, even though she shouldn't feel that way.

She nodded but turned her head away, venom tears prickling at her eyes.

"Esme, you were doing the right thing," Alice whispered now, trying to comfort her mother who had done the same with her mere minutes ago. "She'll be fine."

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><p>Emmett was lounging on the bed, a few DVDs lying around him, while Rose was sitting in an armchair reading.<p>

The atmosphere in the house had been so tense during the last couple of days that it was next to impossible to relax for a while. Esme was running around with a guilt-ridden face and Carlisle was so serious - it was unsettling to see their parents that way.

But their main concern was the girl in the adjoining room, who just rid her closet of nearly all the clothes Alice bought for her. And so Rose and Emmett decided it was better to stay close in case her temper flared again.

But right now it was pleasantly quiet in the house.

It was _so_ quiet that it startled them when they heard a hesitant knock on their door.

Rose frowned and looked questioningly at Emmett, who only shrugged his shoulders. So Rose cast her book aside, got up from the chair and made her way to the door, opening it instantly.

Vivid red eyes looked up at her.

"Maddie," Rose greeted the girl in a loving tone and smiled.

Maddie pulled at the sleeves of her, well, _Emmett's_ hoodie, not quite knowing what to say.

She came here because she wanted, no, _needed_ company. After the last few days of not leaving 'her' room, she was terribly bored and in dire need of something to do.

Emmett, who was still lying on the bed with DVDs all around him, lifted his head and got a good look at the girl the moment Rose stepped aside to let the girl enter.

He laughed out loud. "You look so _tiny_ in that hoodie!"

She really did.

He was a very tall, very muscular young man with broad shoulders. And she, well, she was a petite girl.

The hoodie was many sizes too big for her narrow frame and it hung off her left shoulder, revealing her bare collarbone and half of her shoulder blade. Her hands were covered by the sleeves, which were a good portion too long. And she actually wouldn't need to wear jeans or any kind of trousers at all, because Emmett's hoodie reached down to her knees.

Emmett sat up, still laughing, and waved her closer.

She smiled only a little; but her eyes, not as cold and darting as they usually were, showed that she was indeed comfortable right then.

When she entered, Emmett exclaimed, "It looks like you shrank after washing!"

"Emmett!" Rose chided and whipped her head around to look at him - she wanted him to shut up so he wouldn't infuriate the girl.

"What?" he asked with an perplexed look on his face. "She isn't stupid, she knows that she's a tiny little thing."

Then he looked back at Maddie and his voice turned sweet. "Don't you, Tiny?"

She made a face at his words, because the way he spoke to her sounded like he was addressing a toddler.

But then she just shrugged her shoulders and gave him a crooked smile. In comparison to him, she was indeed little.

Well, at least she wasn't as short as that Alice-girl.

"So, whazzup? You need more clothes? Help yourself," he offered and motioned towards their closet.

But Maddie shook her head after glancing in the direction he indicated.

"Are you thirsty?" Rosalie asked with concern in her voice. She didn't want her to suffer, so before the burning in her throat got too terrible, they should take her on another hunt.

"You said it wouldn't go away completely," Maddie muttered.

"Yes, I'm afraid the burning won't go away completely. But if it hurts too much and you feel thirsty, we'll go hunting, all right?"

Maddie nodded her head.

"Would you like to go hunting now?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" The look Rose gave her was sceptical.

"Yes," she answered. She didn't want to drink moose blood again. _Never_ again. Yes, she was thirsty, she was _always_ thirsty. But if she couldn't get anything besides stinky moose, then she'd rather try and starve herself.

"Well, how can we help you?" Rosalie asked then.

"I... um, I...," her voice was barely above a whisper when she stammered around, her eyes fixed on the carpet on the floor.

And then they knew.

_She didn't want to be alone anymore._

Of course she didn't. She had been staying in her room for the last couple of days, not willing to come out but at least not trying to run away, either. So it wasn't surprising that she sought company and something to do now.

"Come here, Tiny, we'll watch a movie," Emmett suggested and patted the spot on the bed next to himself.

She looked over her shoulder at Rose, to check what she thought of Emmett's idea.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" Rose asked, then smiled and nodded her head encouragingly. "Then go ahead and choose something."

Maddie liked the prospect of being able to choose.

She shyly rubbed the side of her face with her hand that was still covered with the overly long sleeve, trying to mask the fact that she was excited. Then she walked on and climbed onto the bed.

Yes, with Rose in the room she would even sit next to Emmett.

"Why do you have a bed?" she suddenly asked, curious like a small child. She didn't sleep, so they didn't either, right?

_Um._ "Because it's more comfortable than just sitting on chairs," Emmett said with a grin. That was the G-rated version.

Rosalie nodded her head in affirmation.

When Maddie smirked and lightly shook her head, they knew that she had gotten yet another idea why people who didn't sleep would own a bed. "Right," she mumbled and bounced a little on the bed like she was checking the mattress.

"Now, what would you like to watch?" Rose asked hastily when she noticed that. Emmett just looked like he was suppressing a laugh.

Maddie looked at the DVDs, then skimmed her fingers over one DVD case, but did not pick it up.

A frown was creasing her forehead.

She had a question, they realised. Something was bothering her and she should ask whatever she wanted to know.

"Ask whatever is on your mind. You can ask us anything," Rosalie encouraged her. The girl was just a few days old, so there were probably many, many questions going through her head.

"You said you're married," Maddie said to Rose and the look on her face was thoughtful.

"Yes, we are," Rosalie confirmed.

That seemed to confuse her. "But... you two are their children."

"That is true."

Maddie's face wrinkled up into a grimace of disgust and she retrieved her hand to put in her lap.

Emmett's eyes widened.

"Oh no! It's not what you think it is," he said hastily, but then laughed.

The quizzically look Maddie gave him let him know that maybe he should explain.

"Each one of us used to be human and we hadn't been a family back then. So biologically we are not related."

Maddie nodded her head, because it did make sense.

He went on. "Carlisle changed both of us and we live together like a family. That's why he refers to us as his children. Someone has to turn you with their venom. Do you understand that?"

She nodded her head again, showing that she understood... but then all of a sudden her eyes widened and she jumped off the bed. Backing up until she nearly hit the door, Maddie stared at them with her blood-red eyes in shock.

"What? What's upsetting you so?" Rose asked, her voice laced with worry.

"That venom stuff...," she started to say, but did not know how to continue.

"It is what changed you," Rosalie completed for her.

_Oh no._

The girl looked like she was about to throw up, if she could that is.

Her eyes darted around wildly and her chest heaved from her frantic breathing.

Seeing that, Rose took a step closer to her and held up a hand in a soothing manner. "Sshh, calm yourself. What's the matter?"

Maddie did not respond. There was that horrible feeling forming in the pit of her stomach and she wasn't able to speak.

_Oh God ... that guy had changed her. And something of him was... well,_ in_ her._

She hadn't realised before how exactly the change from human to vampire worked. But now that she did, she felt dirty and was utterly disgusted with herself.

Rose and Emmett looked a little helpless as they watched her starting to shake. Out of anger or out of fear - they did not know.

Venom slowly welled up in Maddie's eyes - angry tears that threatened to fall.

Right when she thought that these heavy emotions were about to crush her, she all of a sudden started to feel numb. The rage and disgust were vanishing... or something like that. They felt covered up, maybe.

It made it easier for Maddie to think, because whenever she got upset, that emotion dominated her body and her mind.

That was one of the worst things about her new body - that she had no control over it anymore. It was like she didn't know who or what she was, and she always acted before she even had the chance to think about it.

Rosalie immediately noticed that Jasper was influencing her again. Every time she witnessed it she felt both relieved and guilty. Him using his ability on her was so incredibly helpful, yet so wrong. They couldn't keep it up forever, and sooner or later Maddie would need to know about the gifted vampires in this house. Well, she already knew of Alice's visions, but knowing that Jasper could practically control her to a certain degree and that Edward knew what she was thinking at all times was yet another matter altogether.

And Maddie needed to learn self-control and how to handle her emotions on her own - she wouldn't be able to do it with Jasper meddling with them all the time. Sure, he was just looking out for the family so they would be safe. He was even looking out for the girl, so she could think things through while he calmed her enough that her mind wouldn't be occupied with sheer insensate fury. The blind rage and fury always came with the bitter taste of helplessness, because newborns had barely any control over their mood swings.

But Maddie did not know what was happening to her. These sudden changes were infuriating, but she couldn't feel infuriated. She couldn't steer her emotions into a certain direction. It just happened and she had to accept it.

Suddenly she was calming down, which was indeed a good feeling, but formed a stark contrast to her thoughts.

She was still grossed out that this guy had changed her, with his venom, that was now flowing through her body... or whatever it did. Maybe a week ago she hadn't known anything about these people, much less about vampires. And now she was trapped in a body that was strange to her, and the people who brought her here and hurt her were the only ones who could help her.

Emmett whistled to get her attention, then patted the spot next to him on the bed and smiled. "Come on now, we'll watch a movie."

The lightness in his voice startled Rose, because it didn't fit into the tense atmosphere in this room.

But that's him all over.

And it did work - together with Jasper's influence. Maddie calmed so much that they could see how she visibly relaxed.

The girl stared at Emmett, then looked at Rose for support, then nodded her head a little and climbed back onto the bed.

They started watching a movie that she picked out.

It was nice to do something so normal, even though Rose couldn't help but watch her out of the corner of her eye instead of focussing on the movie. She had already figured out why the girl had reacted that way, and she was able to relate to it.

During these past days - ever since they had brought her here - she hadn't been given a choice. Not about coming here, not about staying here, and not about being changed or left to die. And a person she loathed right from the beginning did something to her, something that was inside of her now, something she couldn't get rid of. There was no way to change back, after all.

These thoughts occupied Rose's mind and she, too, felt guilty.

Maddie had wanted to ask more questions, there was still so much she wanted and needed to know, but she couldn't fight Jasper's influence off. He was strong and experienced when it came to using his gift, and more importantly: Maddie didn't know that he was controlling her emotions, so she wouldn't know what to fight against.

So instead of talking, she fixed her eyes on the TV screen, even though she didn't follow the plot of the movie.

And before it was nearly over, she tentatively reached out and tapped Emmett's hand with her sleeve covered one.

He looked up at her, his eyes kind and bright.

"Thank you for this," she whispered and looked at her arm, indicating to him that she liked the hoodie.

"Aaaw. You're welcome, little one," he smiled and ruffled her hair.

She tensed up at his touch, and was even a little startled that he would treat her with such familiarity. His gesture had nothing threatening or mean, it was more like a display of his easy-going personality, his way of showing that he liked someone. But still, she was a stranger to him, wasn't she? Because he sure as hell was a stranger to her.

He seemed to not notice her confusion, because he immediately turned his head back towards the screen and continued to watch the movie.

Maddie glanced at Rose, who sat on her other side.

And what did she do?

She smiled and smoothed Maddie's hair back down with her right hand, before - just like Emmett - turned her attention back to the movie.

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><p><strong>I updated one of my other stories, too! Just in case you're interested ...<strong>

**And now leave a review and tell me what you think :-) **


	23. Chapter 23

**O.O**

**I know, I know!**

**Haven't updated this story in forever, and it really bothered me to have stories that are not complete. So I spent some time searching for all the pieces and scenes of this story that I had already written, and now I can tell you that there are going to be 12 more chapters. Yup.**

**They are basically done as I have already worked on them, so I will be able to post everything this month and then the story will be complete :-) Everybody who used to read this has probably forgotten it's still here, but I will post anyways. Oh, and I will post two chapters today, so this is going to be the first one!  
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**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed so far!  
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**Ok, I'm done now, promise :-)  
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><p>A few days had passed since Maddie had watched a movie with Rose and Emmett for the first time.<p>

It was nice to still be doing something that she had enjoyed so much while she had been human and watching a movie had given her the chance to get a break from everything for a little while. The movie gave her something to focus on instead of the scorching pain in her throat and the wish to rip someone's throat open. It made her feel almost normal in a world that seemed to be completely upside down.

Nothing was like it used to be anymore, but watching a movie still felt the same. That was good to know.

Yesterday they had made her hunt again - Rose asked her several times a day, but she feared it would be something she wouldn't like and so she refused to drink anything as often as she could. Maddie was thirsty, really, _really_ thirsty... but drinking animal blood was like drinking brine. It looked like something that could quench her thirst, but as soon as it passed her lips and moistened her throat, she realised that this wouldn't help at all. Soon after drinking, it felt like it was making her thirst come back tenfold and scorch her throat even worse.

Since she couldn't sleep anymore, her thoughts were always revolving around nothing but blood, self-defense and a tiny, little wish of having someone she could trust so she wouldn't feel so alone. Staying in this room that was supposed to be hers felt like a prison and like a refugee at the same time. Nobody else entered except for Rose and Emmett, and they knocked and asked her if they were indeed allowed to enter. They respected her privacy for no apparent reason - she couldn't help but wonder why.

It wasn't like she belonged here or would even consider staying with them. That would never be an option for her, but with this new life - this very confusing new life - it might be a little bit easier to have someone guide her, at least for a little part of the way. She'd run as soon as she knew enough to get by on her own. She didn't need any of them, even now she didn't need them. Fuck this. Telling herself that she was only using them to keep her entertained made it easier to stay in this loathsome house.

Right now the only thing she enjoyed was watching the movies they laid out for her to choose from. Once a day they sat down on their bed and watched something she picked out. Last time Emmett had shoved a specific movie closer to her, several times, until she agreed to watch it. He was kinda funny - even though that didn't change who or what he was.

All of a sudden she heard a knock on her door which pulled her from her thoughts and Rosalie's voice sounded over to her through the closed door. She asked her if she would be up for yet another movie, and Maddie got up from the floor and opened the door. She didn't say anything, just nodded her head, then followed after Rose who guided the way to the room right next to this one. Rosalie opened the door to her and Emmett's room and let the girl enter first, before walking inside as well and closing the door behind her.

Just before Maddie could pick the movie she felt like watching today, a noise coming from outside distracted her. It was a roaring, like the sound of a car engine being fired up. To find out if she was right, as this new intensified sense of hearing was still confusing and she had trouble trusting it without checking if she was indeed right about what she heard, she jumped off the bed in one swift motion and looked out of the window to see a black Mercedes rolling down the driveway, then driving down the street and away from the house.

"Carlisle is leaving for work," Rose told her and waited for her to come back to pick something they could watch. They had noticed that something simple as watching a movie was helping her a lot to get acquainted with them. She seemed a little calmer, like she didn't notice the burning in her throat or the constant nervousness and anger anymore, but only focussed on the screen and the storyline. The time they spent together also made her feel more at ease around them, like she was slowly starting to… trust them? Well, whatever it was, she seemed to be almost comfortable in their presence and that was definitely a good thing.

The deep growling sound that emitted her throat let them know that she still didn't like hearing _his_ name, but apparently she liked the fact that he was gone, even for only a few hours. A little smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and it got broader the further the car drove from the house.

"Come, what movie would you like to watch?" Rose asked and waved her over before looking down at the pile of DVDs Emmett had put in the middle of the bed.

But Maddie didn't turn away from the window, her eyes were fixed on the driveway outside. They were narrowed at something, and they could see that she was wondering about something or thinking something through.

Maddie stared out and she felt like she was about to find one of the missing pieces of the puzzle of her death... she remembered having seen this outside on the day of her first hunt, but then forgot about it as she hadn't been able to see it from her window next door, but this window was closer.

"_What is that?_" she whispered and squinted at the icy surface in the middle of the driveway. Rose sighed while getting up and approaching her from behind. They always had to make sure the girl wouldn't feel threatened or snuck up on to make sure she wouldn't lash out at them. The reactions of newborns were almost exclusively driven by instinct - and neither of them felt like losing a limb, thank you very much.

"Ice, come now," Rosalie replied after she had glanced over the girl's shoulder and saw what had caught her interest. She hoped Maddie would turn around now and ignore the stupid puddle. She had to admit that she was getting a little nervous, knowing full well where this talk was headed if she kept on asking about the frozen puddle.

Maddie did not turn around. "Why?" she asked, her nose only half an inch from the window.

"It's winter," Emmett said casually and leaned back on the bed, supporting his upper body with his elbows and crossing his legs like he was already getting comfortable for the movie.

Maddie turned her head to glare at him for a moment, before her eyes found the icy surface again. "I know, but there is just one spot."

"Maddie, don't concern yourself with that," Rose told her in a light voice and shook her head. "Come on."

But their hesitance and evading made her suspicious.

She didn't move from her spot at the window, looking in between the ice and them.

"Tell me."

"Um...," Rosalie started and looked at Emmett for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders and made a face. Well, maybe it was indeed better if he wouldn't be the one to explain this, Rose thought, then ran a hand through her hair and tried again.

"You have every right to feel suspicious," she admitted and watched the girl slowly turn around and focus her big, red eyes on her. Newborn eyes were a wee bit creepy, but big, curious newborn eyes were a lot creepier.

"All right, Maddie," Rose said and sighed. "What are your last memories before the pain started?" She felt that starting this talk that way would make it easier and less likely to cause blind rage.

Maddie swallowed heavily at hearing that question, then shook her head.

Rose knew that she probably remembered something, but she was refusing to tell them. A girl caught right in the middle of puberty and her defiant phase... wonderful. "Try to remember."

But Maddie shook her head again and averted her eyes, because she didn't _want_ to remember. She had tried before, but it was so fuzzy that it frustrated her beyond belief. She knew that if she were still human, the attempt would give her a severe, throbbing headache. She wanted for _them_ to give her answers, not come up with answers herself.

Rose cleared her throat. "You need to remember, it's important."

Maddie shook her head again, then walked away from the window in an attempt to leave the room.

Unfortunately Rose was blocking her way. She tried to get past her, but Rose wouldn't let her.

With an angry snort she looked up at her, and at that moment Rose put her hands on her hips and gave her a flat, no-nonsense look. "I'm serious, you want to know why there's ice, but I want to know something, too."

"What," Maddie growled and narrowed her eyes at Rose.

"What do you remember?"

Maddie glanced over her shoulder at Emmett.

Not even a second passed and Emmett was suddenly standing next to the bed, saying, "Rose, come on, leave her be."

"No," she snapped at him, then directed her gaze back at the girl, "She wants to know, and so do I."

Emmett groaned and the look on his face turned helpless and pained. "She isn't up for it right now, it's too early. Just look at her," he told her and motioned towards the newborn.

Hearing someone back her up confused Maddie, but she didn't have much time to think about it, because Rose was determined to get what she was asking for.

"Emmett, she needs to remember. It is important for all of us."

"But she can't right now, so stop pestering her."

"Stay out of it," she growled at him, then directed her gaze at the girl once more.

"Rose, step out of her way," Emmett ordered, and his voice had a warning edge to it.

The tone he was taking with her made Rose realise that maybe she had gone too far. She desperately wanted to know if Maddie's fall had been an accident or if the girl had tried to end her life. She needed to know. But Emmett was right, she shouldn't push her. It was too early, and maybe she really didn't remember anything anymore. It was probably better that way.

With these thoughts in mind she gave a defeated sigh and stepped aside, letting her pass so she could leave the room.

The girl's eyes were narrowed and her jaw set, but she indeed headed for the door without growling or snapping at Rose. Her hand was already on the doorhandle when she suddenly turned her head back around to look at them, frowning.

"You left," she whispered.

Rosalie''s eyes bulged at hearing her say that. So this was indeed the right time to start talking about this, and how conveniently it was that her memories started with the morning she and the others had left...

They needed her to remember what happened after they had left for their hunt in order to find out what had really happened while they had been gone. "Yes," Rose confirmed, nodding her head. "I needed to hunt. We all did."

Maddie withdrew her hand from the door handle and turned to face Rose completely.

She narrowed her eyes in thought. "And music."

"I gave you music to listen to while I was gone, yes," Rose replied, still nodding her head encouragingly.

Maddie also nodded her head as if confirming what Rose had just said.

"What happened then?" Rose asked softly. "What happened? Go on."

It grew apparent that that question made Maddie nervous. She pulled at her overlong sleeves, her eyes darting around but never focussing on anything in particular. She was trying to remember, she really was, but then she shook her head again.

"You don't remember?"

And Maddie shook her head again.

Rose sighed, but tried to hide her disappointment. "It's too fuzzy, isn't it? Human memories aren't clear anymore. You have been very sick and feverish, so your memories are probably even more blurry."

It was uncomfortably silent in the room, but Rose somehow just couldn't give up. She could understand that the girl had trouble remembering and maybe didn't want to remember, but it would help them and her so much. "Did someone come up here after I had left?"

Specific questions might make her remember more easily. Well, what else could they do?

"Rose," Emmett whispered and gave her a look of disapproval, but she didn't pay any attention to him as her eyes were fixed on the girl.

Maddie turned her head to the side, squinting her eyes even though she wasn't looking at anything in particular.

"No," she breathed.

"No one came upstairs after I left?"

And she shook her head again.

"Did the music stop? Did you... try to get up?"

Maddie's hand, while she was being obviously deep in thought, skimmed lightly over her throat, then down to her breastbone where it stopped. "I..."

"What happened? What do you remember?" Rosalie questioned eagerly. She ignored the look Emmett gave her - he really didn't like the way she was questioning the girl. Sure, her human memories would fade quickly but still, she had been changed mere days ago and the circumstances hadn't been pleasant to say the least. It was simply too soon, and maybe it was for the best if she forgot about the last minutes of her human life.

Maddie leaned back against the door, then noticed her hand on her chest. She held it in front of her face and her fingers curled slightly like she was feeling or grabbing something.

"I couldn't breathe," she eventually said.

"You couldn't breathe? Why?"

Maddie thought about it, but... nothing. There was nothing popping up in her mind and she had absolutely no clue what had happened. And so she shrugged her shoulders, which was barely recognisable under Emmett's huge hoodie, but the look she gave them let them know that she had no memory of it.

"Maddie, why weren't you able to breathe?" Rose asked again, fiercer now.

She shook her head.

"Why?!"

"I don't know!" Maddie roared and her eyes blazed, "I just don't know, okay?!"

Raw anger rose up inside of her. It was a horrible feeling not having any memory of what had happened. Especially because this was about her last moments, obviously. The mental blackout, not knowing and not understanding what had happened with her and what had been done to her at that time was torturing.

Rosalie knew it was wrong, but she couldn't give up now. "The window was open. Why?"

"Rose, stop," Emmett urged.

She held a hand up to silence him, then turned back towards Maddie. "Why was the window open?"

Of course Rose didn't want to torment the girl, but not knowing what had happened was obviously upsetting her as well. Rose still had more information because she had seen the room after Maddie had started going through the change. That's why she gave here these kind of information, because she was the only one that could possibly remember what had happened and they needed to trigger these memories that were obviously hidden inside her mind, buried by confusion and thirst.

Maddie breathed hard... being confronted with something she didn't remember was visibly upsetting her.

"I opened it," she pressed out, but the look in her eyes turned more and more desperate.

"You opened the window. Why? Because you couldn't breathe?"

Maddie's eyes moved again, they darted about like mad - she was searching her mind for an answer, for the right memory that would fit this description.

After taking a calming breath that indeed helped calming her, she said, "I guess."

"Did your breathing get better after you opened the window?"

Maddie looked up at her, slightly baffled that she would still continue asking. She didn't know!

"How the fuck would I know! All I remember is snow!"

"You remember snow. Do you remember what you have thought when you saw snow?"

"_Are you kidding me?!_" She couldn't get the pictures in her head straight, and now she was supposed to remember her thoughts at that time?

There was no way that she would ever be able to remember what had happened, and getting bombarded with questions frightened and enraged her at the same time. She turned around, wrenched the door open and slammed it shut behind her before hurrying to her room. The door of their room broke out of its hinges but she did not care one bit that she had broken something again.

Closing her own room door with caution so it would still be intact and keep the others out, she walked over to the window and gazed out, her eyes scanning the surroundings.

Running would be her best option to get away from them, but right now they would probably expect it. She needed to leave some other time - but sooner or later she would do it and then they would never be able to find her again.

* * *

><p>"Dammit, Rose, I told you to stop!" Emmett practically shouted at her. She knew how dangerous it was to upset someone that young, and he found it to be too early for the girl to remember.<p>

Rose rubbed a hand over her eyes as though she was feeling stressed or exhausted. "We were that close to finding out, Emmett."

"Close?! Did you even listen to what she said? She doesn't remember, so leave it be. Upsetting a newborn is a very stupid idea, and making her remember something that she maybe shouldn't remember is just as stupid."

She wheeled around and pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek while crossing her arms over her chest. "Did you just call me stupid?!"

_How dare he!_

Her piercing eyes bore into his, and he had half a mind to affirm. But since they were both just upset and would only end up fighting and saying things they did not mean, he let out a groan after a few moments of silence and shook his head. "Rose, calm down and help me with the door."

"No," she replied and uncrossed her arms again, "I need to go check on her."

She was already half way to the door when he spoke up, making her halt.

"No, you don't. Give her some time to calm down and get her thoughts straight. You know that she probably won't think about anything else right now but what happened before she went through the transformation. You pestering her won't help anyone."

She raised an eyebrow at him and was just about to return something, when she realised that he might be right.

She had indeed pestered her. That probably hadn't been awfully smart.

"I think we can fix the door...," she said in a subdued voice and glanced at it before sighing. "Or we just take the one from the guest room as it won't be needed anymore."

"Good idea."

"I'll go get tools and glue then."

* * *

><p>After he had fixed the door of his and Rose's room, Emmett knocked on Maddie's door. He wanted to see how she was feeling and if she wanted to talk.<p>

Surprisingly, she let him enter.

This was the very first time she allowed him to come into the room without Rosalie being there as well.

Emmett didn't know if that was because she really started to trust him, or if she was just mad at Rose and so he was the only person left whose presence she tolerated.

He explained to her what he could.

The icy spot she had seen in the driveway was the exact spot where Carlisle and Esme had found her. They had tried to wash her blood away that had covered the asphalt, so she wouldn't have to see how exactly she had found her end. She had lost so much blood that she had been barely alive when they had found her and had been forced to decide whether to change her or just let her die.

When they returned from their hunt, it had already happened. They had planned to tell her about their kind and give her a choice, but she had been too sick and feverish to really understand what was happening around her. And then there was the accident.

Maybe it was just his easy-going nature or his honesty, maybe the combination of both, but she didn't get upset or angry. She listened intently, but he could see in her eyes that she was trying to fit what he was saying into the blurry memories she had of that fateful day.


	24. Chapter 24

**And the second chapter:**

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><p>Maddie sat on the floor in front of the bed, swaying back and forth in an attempt to calm herself down. Her throat was hurting so bad that she could barely keep her sanity and she longed for something to moisten her parched throat - but she knew they would make her hunt moose again and that taste was something she couldn't endure any longer.<p>

The foul taste of the moose blood made her want to throw up, but up until now she had managed to keep herself from doing that. It helped soothe the pain in her throat for a little while, yes, but moose were just so repulsive and she didn't like drinking from them.

That's why she had told them the day before that she wasn't thirsty, but that only got her a pain even worse than before and now she was even starting to shake under the immense torture she put herself under.

Pressing the balls of her hands against her eyes until it hurt, she tried to distract herself that way from the pain in her throat that was so much worse.

But it didn't work.

* * *

><p>"Rosalie? I need to hunt," Jasper said and looked at his sister after he had knocked and she had opened her door.<p>

"No problem, go," she replied and blinked at him like she did not really understand why he would tell her that. Since when did he need her permission to go on a hunt? Or anything else for that matter?

"Let's go together."

_Ah, now it makes sense._ "We went hunting with her two days ago, she says she doesn't need to feed," Rosalie explained.

"Newborns always need to feed, she is just lying to you. And more importantly: I cannot calm her emotions while I'm gone for several hours."

Rosalie frowned at him. "You don't need to be around all the time." The girl didn't like him anyways, and he was overusing his gift on her. Nobody thought that that much meddling with her emotions was necessary, but then again - he had way more experience with newborns than they had and so they thought that he might have a reason for that.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her at home when Alice is here."

That made her groan. "Then take Alice with you. Christ, don't be so dense," she said to him and wanted to turn around and close her room door, but Jasper held against it and stopped her so she wouldn't be able to shut it all the way.

"She doesn't want to," he remarked.

Huffing, she pulled at the door and opened it further once again. "And what do you expect me to do about it?" she queried with one hand on her hip.

"Tell the girl, who is currently going insane from her thirst, to get ready. Emmett and you will join us."

"Great!" Emmett called and stood up, really digging the idea of going hunting with Maddie even though it had been a little tough the last couple of times, because she really didn't like moose.

But Emmett wouldn't be Emmett if he didn't have a few great tricks up his sleeve. He had tried to make hunting a little game, so she would actually drink some blood even if she hated the flavour. Newborns could be quite stubborn, he noticed, but they couldn't watch her trying to starve herself. That's why he told her that whoever finds and drains a moose bull first would get the next bear they see. Bear had been quite tasty for her, and so she agreed to that game. No need to say that every single time he had let her win, but she had not realised it yet. And even if she would realise it - he had managed to get some blood into her and that was all he cared about.

Rose rolled her eyes... Emmett could be a little backstabber at times, even though he might not see it that way. Rose really didn't like being ordered around, and she did not understand why her husband didn't mind that their brother stood there telling them what to do. "Emmett, we have been hunting a few days ago. She doesn't need to feed."

"Yes she does," he said and snorted. "She hasn't even finished her moose last time, and she needs to get used to the taste."

"We cannot force her to like it."

"Yes, but we cannot let her go hungry. Do you want her to be in pain?"

Rosalie sighed in defeat, then nodded her head. She hated being guilted into something, but if Maddie was really suffering from thirst, then they needed to do something about it. "I'll ask her, but if she refuses to come, I'll stay home with her."

Then she stalked from the room, past her blond brother, and then waited for him to vanish downstairs so she could talk to the girl.

"Maddie?" Rosalie knocked on the door, then placed a hand on the door handle. "Can I come in?"

"_Who's with you?_" The girl asked warily from within her room.

"Nobody is with me."

"_I heard you talking to someone._"

Rose shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then looked down the hall as though checking if she was still alone. Then she looked back at the door. "Can I come in? It's just me."

"_... okay._"

Now that she could finally open the door, she entered but immediately felt a frown appear on her face.

Maddie had been wearing Emmett's hoodie ever since she got it. There were a few blood and dirtstains on the cuffs as well as a little down the front, but she was still wearing it.

"I could put the shirt in the washer for you, little one."

But all Maddie did was shake her head.

"It's dirty."

She growled. "No, it isn't!"

"Don't get angry at me for pointing something out. Besides, I only came to ask you something."

The growl died in her throat and her blood-red eyes turned questioning. "Ask me what?"

"Jasper needs to go hunting and wondered if you wanted to come. You must be thirsty."

"I'm not, I'm fine."

Rose was not convinced, now that she saw her. The girl looked like even breathing was painful for her, and she only spoke as much as necessary. "Are you?"

"Uh-huh."

_Bullshit._

So she really refused to feed, even though she desperately needed the blood to soothe the pain. Of course it wouldn't go away completely, but the burning in her throat wouldn't be as bad as it was now and she would feel a lot better. "And even though you aren't thirsty, would you still like to join?" Rose asked casually, thinking that if she ran through the forest and watched the others feed, then she would also want to have some blood.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am sure!" she hissed and her eyes blazed.

"All right, I'll let him know," Rose replied and stepped out of the room, then made to close the door.

But just before it would click shut, Maddie's soft voice sounded over to her, making her stop immediately.

"... would you come, too?"

Rose opened the door wide again and a smile lit up her face. "Of course I would! Just like Emmett." Maybe she should have mentioned that earlier. Of course the girl wouldn't want to be alone with Jasper - she knew nothing about him.

The corners of Maddie's lips twitched, and she covered her mouth with one of her sleeve-covered hands.

"Would you like to come now?"

Maddie's bright red eyes stared at her, and then she hesitantly nodded her head.

"I'm happy to hear that. All right, come, we're leaving now," she told her and when Maddie jumped up from the ground, she held one arm out to carefully put around her shoulders.

She wasn't quite sure if she would let her do so, but trying couldn't hurt... much.

Rosalie went downstairs with her, then made her sit down in the living room while she would get changed.

Jasper was there, too, sitting on an armchair to the side and eyeing her carefully.

Maddie didn't really like him - but she felt sorry for him. He was covered in scars which meant that something bad must have happened to him. Maybe that's why he was so weird.

She sat down on the armrest of the chair, never taking her eyes off him. She was always on the alert, and the way he was acting and watching her made her even more so.

Suddenly she felt calmer, more relaxed and she slid down from the armrest onto the seating surface of the chair.

Jasper was still watching her, and he had an eyebrow raised while she felt the calming feeling that surged through her body increase.

She didn't really like being in a room with him, only the two of them, so feeling calm didn't really make sense.

"You have a question," Jasper stated and clasped his hands together.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ask."

It sounded almost challenging, and then it was silent for a little while, because Maddie decided that chewing on her bottom lip was a very good way to keep herself occupied and show him that she wasn't interested in talking to him and would prefer to ignore that he was even there.

But then her curiosity won and she had to ask.

"Why do you look like that?"

"Why do I look like what?" he asked almost coldly, not liking this disrespectful question very much. Of course he knew exactly what she was getting at, but he was her elder and therefore she needed to show him respect.

But she did not seem to catch the displeasure in his voice about her question, because now she even lifted a finger and pointed at his neck. "Like that."

"Has nobody ever taught you not to point your fingers at someone? That's rude."

She distorted her mouth a little and let her hand sink back to her lap, but her eyes were still big and curious as she was waiting for him to tell her what was wrong with him.

He sighed after a full minute of getting stared at. "Do you mean my scars?"

She nodded her head and licked her lips, feeling a little embarrassed now that she had asked. She was so curious, but knew at the same time that maybe he didn't want people to ask him about it. Maybe it was something he wanted to forget about, and now she had reminded him of his awful past. She didn't know.

He narrowed his eyes a little and nodded his head at her once. "What do you think?"

She thought about that for a moment. Normally she liked guessing games as they were a lot of fun and she couldn't stop until she got the answer right, but this was hard. Whatever she could see of him was covered in scars, and it did not look like it came from an illness.

"Did you get attacked?"

"Yes," he affirmed, his eyes unblinking. He had never talked to a newborn about his scars, as they usually knew very quickly what had caused them. Most of them got their first few within the first five minutes of their new vampire life.

She squinted her eyes a little as she thought about who or what could have attacked him and injured him like that. "By sharks?"

His eyes went wide, and he barely managed to keep his jaw from dropping - at that moment a booming laugh sounded through the house and distracted both Maddie and Jasper.

The girl looked around the room, zooming down on the door that led to the foyer, while Jasper kept his eyes on her.

Emmett entered the room, still laughing like a maniac.

"Yeah Jazz, did you get attacked by sharks?"

Jasper felt the girl relax again, now that she knew that it was only Emmett. She was getting used to him, he could tell. Still a little wary, but they were getting there.

He watched Emmett stroll casually over to the girl and then placing his elbow on the backrest of the chair she was sitting on.

For a brief moment Maddie tensed at the closeness, but hearing that he was still laughing calmed her again.

"No," Jasper answered and shook his head, making her frown in confusion. Yes, she had been serious about the sharks.

"Look at them," he said and pushed his sleeve up to his elbow to reveal his completely scarred forearm to her, "they are too small for shark jaws." The crescent-shaped marks were the same as on his neck, but he wasn't going to present his neck to her. His arm was a safer option.

She eyed the part of his arm he had uncovered in order to show her, and she realised when she lifted her gaze and looked him in the eye, that the bitemarks on his neck, jaw and hands weren't the only ones he had. He was completely covered in scars and scratches. "... baby sharks?" she asked softly, a hint of sympathy in her voice.

He blinked at her in disbelief.

"I mean," she said quickly before he could say something, "a lot of them. A troop of baby sharks."

_A_ troop_ of...? Did she drop out of elementary school?  
><em>

Jasper groaned and rubbed a hand over his face when he felt that she was serious about that question. He was very thirsty and therefore had really no patience for stupid questions. "Yes, I was attacked by baby sharks."

"Come on," Emmett said when he heard his wife come down the stairs and he slapped the back of his hand softly against Maddie's upper arm. "Rose is ready, let's go. Shark boy is coming with us."

Together they left the house, running in the direction of the forest where they always hunted for wild animals - but never found any bears for her to feed on.

She really liked running and the feeling of the wind rushing past her, loved the scrunching of the snow underneath the soles of her shoes, loved that it gave her a sense of freedom... even though she wasn't really free.

It was great that she could provide for herself now as she was quicker than any animal they found and was a lot more skilled than them... hunting them had already started to feel natural to her. As a human she was sure she would be appalled about having to kill an animal, and now she killed several a week. But come to think of it - it was like eating meat.

They ran for a while and Maddie hoped that this time she would finally find a bear she could drain when suddenly a revolting scent hit her.

_Moose._

She felt like gagging and could have whined in frustration when she noticed that the others were heading in the direction the stink was coming from.

So she just slowed down, then stopped completely. There was no way she would get any closer to these things, let alone drink from them. Eww.

Of course they noticed that she had stopped running.

They looked behind themselves to see what she was doing, then halted about fifty feet from her and looked at her.

Emmett tried to coax her into following them. "Come on, Mad, I'll race you."

But she just shook her head. There was no way in hell she would drink that stuff again.

"Let's go," Rose said and motioned with her hand for her to come closer. "We need to get to them before the wind changes and they might be able to smell us."

Maddie crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head like a petulant child. "You go, I don't want to."

"Is she always being so difficult?" Jasper asked, frowning.

Rose tzked at his stupid question, then approached the girl. "Maddie? Come on, maybe we'll find something else afterwards."

"We never do."

"Today might be different, come on," she said and held her hand out for the girl to take.

The dark-haired newborn didn't move and just gave them a petulant look, her bottom lip protruding. She was determined to stay where she was and not follow them, when suddenly her resolve wavered and she realised that she had to give in. Her throat really hurt and she wanted for the pain to go away.

Slowly she walked toward them, then grabbed Rose's hand when she was close enough. Immediately they started running again, heading for the group of moose that was feeding a few hundred yards from them.

Emerging from the forest, they didn't waste any time and pounced on the clueless moose standing in the meadow.

Emmett caught a big bull moose and wanted to give it to the girl, but Jasper had his arms around the necks of two females. He shoved one of them into Maddie's arms, and she dropped to her knees while holding the struggling animal in a tight grip.

After seeing that everyone had a meal, Rosalie tackled the animal that had been slowest to realise the danger the group was in. With her knee pressed firmly down on the torso of the moose, she bit down on the neck and started sucking the hot blood from the wound.

The loud screams that were coming from the moose Maddie was holding down on her lap made the others look up and focus on her. Jasper was with his back to her and detached his teeth from the wound he had inflicted on the neck of his prey for a moment to whip his head around and glare at her.

"Drink," he ordered in a voice he had always used with his newborns and that had never failed him.

But all she did was shake her head.

"Stop this childish behaviour and do as you're told," Jasper told her, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. "_Drink_, I said."

He turned his head back around and continued to feed as he was still thirsty and the moose's suffering shouldn't be prolonged.

Before he could finish it, however, a loud, anguished scream and a wet tearing sound filled the air and something warm, wet and heavy hit him in the back of his head with a loud thud.

"_Here, you drink it,_" he heard the girl growl at him.

He reached up and felt the spot on the back of his head where it had hit him, and when he looked at his hand, he saw that it was covered in blood.

Turning around with darkened eyes, he felt anger rise up inside of him as he saw what the little devil had dared to do.

Maddie, in all her defiance and annoyance, had ripped the poor animal's hind leg off and had tossed it at him.

She stood up from the ground and took a few steps back while scowling at Jasper who looked quite intimidating right now. He approached her with long strides until he came to a stop right next to her supposed meal.

"It's okay," Emmett said quickly, discarted his drained and dead prey and walked hectically over to the screaming and struggling animal lying on the ground.

The white snow was turning red where it lay and with skilled hands Emmett broke the cow moose's neck. The silence that that action brought did not manage to alleviate the tension in the air - it seemed like it was only serving to make it heavier.

"You will feed now," Jasper told her in a commanding voice, his dark eyes narrowed at Maddie while he pointed to the lifeless animal lying on the ground.

She didn't say anything, just shook her head and growled lowly.

Slowly Jasper approached her, very well aware of her fury and the possibility that she might attack but not willing to let this little chit defy him.

"I said," Jasper hissed lowly, "you will feed now. Finish your moose."

"You finish it," she replied in the same low hiss.

"I'm really losing my patience with you."

"Fuck you."

"Jasper-," Rosalie started to say as she was not liking the situation one bit. She didn't like how Jasper was talking to her, and she didn't like the warning growl that was emitting from the girl's throat.

But her warning came too late.

Despite the girl's anger and the growl that rumbled in her chest, Jasper made to grab her by the upper arm to drag her over to the dead moose and rub her nose in the moose blood she had wasted, but at that moment she was quicker.

She quickly turned her head and bit his hand.

Her sharp teeth penetrated the skin of his palm, and her venom entered the wound, bringing an excruciating burning sensation. He clenched his jaw in pain and gritted his teeth, but otherwise remained completely calm. Not even a single sound of discomfort escaped his lips.

He calmed Maddie's emotions with full force while she shook her head to rip a chunk of flesh out of his hand, and after a moment she stopped moving and slowly unlocked her jaw from his damaged hand while looking at him with wide eyes.

Glancing at his hand and the ragged wound that was shimmering with her as well as his venom, he slowly lowered it to his side. When he was sure that she was completely free of any emotion and he had her full attention, he drew back his injured hand and slapped her hard across the face.

And then everything happened so fast, a human would have seen nothing but a blur.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Next chapter will follow soon :-)<strong>


	25. Chapter 25

_And then everything happened so fast, a human would have seen nothing but a blur._

Rosalie lunged at Jasper and they crashed to the frozen ground, then rolled around once or twice until she managed to get the overhand. Jasper had been too distracted to anticipate her attack, but he also didn't try to fight her.

She had him pinned to the ground with one of her knees painfully boring into his back, right between his shoulderblades. One hand was pressing down on his left shoulder while her other one took a fistful of his hair, shoving his head deeper into the snow. Rosalie's teeth were bared and hovered just half an inch above his ear while she growled menacingly.

Emmett didn't have time to react to what his wife was doing to Jasper, because his attention fixed on the girl his brother had just slapped. He ran over to her and without thinking he placed his hands on either side of her face. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" he asked, looking at her with wide eyes, a panicked expression on his face.

But she was still in shock.

Jasper had calmed her with full force so that she would unhook her teeth from his hand. Then, when Rosalie had pounced him and thrown him on the ground, his influence over her had abruptly ceased and this sudden lack of influence left her feeling nearly emotionless, even though an overwhelming flood of emotions was washing over her. But they were just too strong and too many at once to process.

These sudden changes were heavier than any regular newborn mood swings and her young mind was overburdened.

„Maddie?" Emmett said and softly stroked her cheek while checking the side of her face that had been struck for any trace of injury. With his thumb he wiped the streak of fresh venom away and was relieved when he saw that it was from the wound on his brother's hand and that he hadn't injured her.

Her eyes were still oddly vacant-looking, but she slowly started nodding her head before directing her gaze to Rose who was still on top of Jasper, snarling at him like crazy.

Emmett figured that seeing this must unnerve her and so he let go of her face and took a step back. Yes, at that moment he also realised that he had been dangerously close to a young newborn and with his hands on her face she could have easily bitten his fingers off or attacked him.

"Wait here, everything's all right," he said in an attempt to reassure her while holding one of his hands up in a soothing manner, before he hurried over to his wife and his brother.

"Rose, come on." He curled his fingers around her upper arm, but neither his words nor the grip he had on her made her stop growling or move away from her honey-blonde brother.

"Rosie, let go of him," he spoke softly and gently pulled her up - luckily this time she did not resist.

She got to her feet and took a few steps backwards while wiping her hair out of her face, all the while glaring at Jasper as though she couldn't stand him at all.

Looking her over to make sure she was unharmed and that she would not attack their brother again, Emmett then turned back to gaze at Jasper and offered his hand to him to help him get up from the snow-covered ground.

The former soldier blew a strand of his hair out of his face, then took his brother's hand and let him pull him up.

The moment he was back on his feet again however, Emmett roughly shoved him. "What the hell, dude? She's a child, how could you?!"

Wiping with his thumb at a cut on his bottom lip – his sister must have somehow injured him while tackling him to the ground - he then looked in between Rose and Emmett, his eyes still cold and dark, and he retorted, "She needs to learn her place."

Emmett groaned. "We're not planning a war, Jasper, and she is not one of your newborns."

Jasper clenched his jaw and his eyes narrowed.

"Snap out of it, bro," Emmett warned.

He knew that Jasper had only ever dealt with newborns that were supposed to fight for their army, and he had trained and punished them to shape them into proper, obedient fighters before he would rip them apart and burn them as soon as they were outgrowing their strength. That was all he knew when it came to newborns, and so apparently he did not understand that that wasn't the right way to deal with young vampires who barely knew anything about what they had turned into - especially when you only had one of them and weren't going to turn that one loose on your enemies.

"Don't you ever touch her again, don't you even dare _think_ about it." Rose was suddenly back in her brother's face, sputtering threats like she had never done anything else.

Jasper just raised an eyebrow at her like he couldn't really take her seriously as she was getting worked up about him treating the girl just like she should be treated.

And by doing so, it became obvious again that Jasper had no experience with a newborn that young and wasn't used to showing them kindness and compassion. He couldn't see Maddie as the child that she was - she was just a worthless newborn to him who had to be beaten into submission or killed if she wouldn't yield.

After growling at him once more, Rosalie felt that Jasper had been threatened enough for now. She snapped her head around to look for the girl.

"Where is she?"

"She's -" Emmett started to say but then broke off and turned his head from one side to the other while looking around hectically. "She was right there. Just now," he told his wife and his face scrunched up in confusion.

"I swear I'll rip your head off if we don't find her," she whispered to Jasper in a low, threatening voice before checking the snow for Maddie's footprints and sniffing the air in order to pick up her scent.

Then she suddenly took off, Emmett right behind her.

"We'll find her, don't worry," he called to his mate, hoping his words would calm her.

She only gave him a curt nod and ran even faster.

Jasper was such an idiot, she thought and gritted her teeth in anger. During the last few days they had succeeded in convincing the girl of staying with them for a while and had taught her how to hunt. It had been great to see that she was slowly starting to relax around them. She maybe even trusted them, or at least was close to trusting them, they hoped.

And now he had hit her across the face and she was nowhere to be seen - he had ruined everything. They had spent so much time showing her that they could be trusted, and now she had decided to run away and it was his fault.

They ran as fast as they could and Rosalie was oddly scared as her thoughts revolved around how they had failed the girl. She was scared what this slap would evoke in her and she was scared that they wouldn't be able to find her again. It was just too dangerous for an inexperienced newborn to be all alone... what if she would run into nomadic vampires? What if she would start killing humans and expose their kind because she wasn't careful enough? The Volturi would kill her in an instant and then pay them a visit - they couldn't let that happen.

After a short while Maddie's smell got stronger, and they sighed with relief when they could detect her in the distance.

She wasn't alone.

They got closer and saw that Edward and Alice each had one of her arms in a tight grip and refused to let go, no matter her protests or her threatening growls. She was struggling and trying to twist out of their hold, but with the advantage of their gifts on their side they could predict her movements and didn't let up.

"Let go of her!" Emmett shouted at his siblings while sprinting towards them - they only shook their heads in response.

As soon as they had reached them, Rosalie immediately pushed Edward away so he would let go of the girl's arm.

He did, because now with the four of them here she wouldn't be able to get very far in case she would try to run away again.

"Alice," Rose growled and glared at her petite sister, who was reluctant to let go of the newborn, but eventually sighed and uncurled her fingers from Maddie's forearm before she took a few steps back.

"She wanted to run away," Edward told them, never taking his eyes off the snarling newborn who still seemed to be very unhappy about the fact that she had been restrained.

"Just don't touch her again," Rose hissed and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What were we to do? I saw her heading for the nearest town," Alice explained, which earned her a sharp look from Rose.

"That doesn't give you the right to-"

"Fuck you, fuck all of you!" Maddie yelled at them and backed away, her chest heaving from her quickened breaths. Her head was spinning and she didn't really know what to do - all she knew was that she wanted to get far away from them.

"Ssh, it's okay, they won't come near you again," Rose said, hoping her calm and even voice would help in calming the girl down.

"Leave me alone!" the newborn snarled in response, then spun around and ran off.

"_Don't worry, Jasper will catch her,_" Maddie heard Alice say. Her voice was faint as she was running away from the group, but her words immediately made Maddie wonder. How would she know where Jasper was or that he would catch her?

Oh right, she was a seer.

The one that had doomed her to this life and bound her to these people - people she hated more than anything.

She would be better off on her own - yes she was a freak now, but she could stay hidden in the forests of Alaska or some other state and eat bear... or have some human blood. Nobody would ever see her again and nobody would ever hurt her again.

A fragment of an apparently lost memory suddenly flooded her mind while she was running, and she had to continuously shake it away so she could concentrate on putting as much distance as possible between her and them. It entered her mind again and again, and it almost made her stop fleeing and just let them catch up with her.

This was her fault... she has had the chance but did not seize it, and now there was no way out anymore.

The sound of a twig snapping caught her attention, and as she looked in the direction it came from, someone pounced on her.

She hit the ground hard and immediately started slashing around herself, fighting for all she's worth.

"_Stop that,_" she heard being barked at her and combined with the smell, she knew immediately that it was Jasper. The asshole who had dared to slap her.

She really wanted to rip his face off and shove it down his throat.

"_Calm down,_" he ordered and she felt how her struggling ceased. She didn't know why, but she calmed gradually while she could hear a few pairs of feet heading for them.

She could smell that the hand that pressed down on the back of her neck was smeared with blood and dirt and something that was even stickier than blood - venom.

"_Jasper, I swear to God-_" "_Stop sputtering threats, Rosalie._"

"_Don't get involved, you jerk._"

"_I think we all should just calm down. Jasper, let go of her and take five steps back. Hm... maybe seven, just to be sure,_" Alice said, her sweet and melodic voice sounding oddly out of place for Maddie as she lay there in the snow, feeling strong hands press down on her shoulder and her neck. The pressure increased for a second and then it was gone.

Immediately she jumped to her feet, her teeth bared and her hands formed into claws, ready to attack.

"Just look what you've done," Rose snapped at Jasper, then took a step toward the girl. She halted when Maddie made to lunge at her - the poor thing was influenced by Jasper's calming gift, but her fighting instincts were still struggling to push through.

The newborn felt cornered even though she could just turn around and run... but she knew they wouldn't let her get very far. Having so many people around, and knowing that all of them were here to try to compel her into submission was enraging and frightening at the same time.

"What do you want from me?!" she queried, her wild eyes darting from one to the other, trying to keep all of them in her field of vision at the same time.

"They want nothing from you, because they were just about to go home," Rosalie stated and gave her siblings pointed looks before she turned her attention back to the fuming newborn who was still breathing rapidly.

"You cannot stay close to an enraged newborn, Rosalie. Let me -" "You've done more than enough already, don't you think?" Rose shot at Jasper. He had slapped her and now she wanted to get away from them - _all of them_.

Rose had actually thought that she and Emmett had been able to build a little bridge of trust between them and that she would choose their presence over being alone. But thanks to Jasper hitting her and then Edward and Alice restraining her, everything seemed to be in shatters now.

The poor thing didn't know whom to trust or where to go, all she knew was that she wanted nothing to do with them as all they ever seemed to do was trying to overpower her. What kind of a message was that supposed to send?

"Rosalie, you cannot be serious. That is ludicrous," Edward - the copper-haired boy - said.

"Just do it," Rose growled, immediately sending Maddie into a defensive crouch with her instruction. To the girl it sounded like they were about to attack her and beat her up.

"Sshh," Rosalie soothed her as she noticed that. "I want them to leave so we can talk."

"I don't want to talk, I want you to leave me alone," she growled out, "_forever_."

The last word left her a little unsure, because it was weird speaking about something as forever when she hadn't yet been able to really understand that now she had a different body, had a different future awaiting her and would be living a different life that would never end.

She couldn't quite wrap her mind around that idea... living forever. She had no one left, so that would be a very sad forever. But one thing was for sure - she would definitely not spend that time with these fuckers here.

She was so caught up in her thoughts and musings that she barely noticed how her emotions turned from defensive to sad again, but suddenly she heard someone hiss.

"Leave her alone, Jasper," Rose's eyes were still unusually dark as she glared at her brother.

"I don't think so," he shot back before focussing his pitch black eyes back on Maddie.

A thunderous roar emitted from Maddie's throat at that moment and she wanted to dash at him to hurt him before he could hurt her, but two arms that had quickly wrapped around her waist were holding her back. She hissed, kicked and thrashed around in the restraining hold, trying to free herself, when suddenly a loud crack could be heard and the person behind her yowled in pain and fell backwards after letting go off her as if burnt. She jumped to the side, putting some distance between herself and her attacker, and then saw Edward sitting on the ground holding his foot.

"Leave, all of you, _right now_," Rose commanded and the look she gave her siblings was so mad that they decided to grant her her wish and let her handle the raging newborn by herself.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading and reviewing, guys!<strong>


	26. Chapter 26

"Jasper, how could you?" Esme asked and shook her head in disbelief as soon as she noticed her blonde son entering the living room. Alice and Edward had arrived a few minutes before him and had already explained what happened while Carlisle was examining Edward's injured foot.

Hearing that her son had slapped the girl because she had refused to feed on moose was so very wrong and it shocked Esme that he would do such a thing.

They couldn't force Maddie to like the taste of moose blood, and as long as they kept an eye on her and made sure she was as relaxed and calm as possible, then they had already minimised the risk of her taking off and attacking humans in the nearest town. Besides, the situation was still difficult enough - trying to beat the girl into submission surely wasn't the best course of action.

Jasper had stayed outside on the porch for a few moments to calm himself after the tumult with the newborn, and he wanted for Carlisle to concentrate on Edward's broken bones instead of on his little bite injury.

The wound on his hand was deep and it burned horribly – but he had dealt with worse injuries, so this was actually no big deal for him. A few days and the pain would be gone and he would be able to use his hand again like nothing had happened.

Carlisle was bending over Edward's broken foot and was putting on a walking cast despite the boy's complaints and moans to make sure the bones wouldn't shift and his foot would heal quickly.

Raising an eyebrow, Jasper said, "Newborns are young and confused and don't know what's good for them. Feeding on a regular basis, for example, is good for them. And so is obedience."

"You struck the poor girl, Jasper! How could you do that? Do you have any id-"

"Save it," Jasper shot back, but immediately averted his eyes when Carlisle's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes at him in displeasure about the way he had spoken to his mother.

"Jasper, watch your tone," he warned him, before he noticed the deep bite injury on his boy's hand and the smell of venom wavering over to him.

"I'm sorry, Esme," Jasper said to his mother, then made to turn around and leave the room, but Carlisle calling his name kept him from doing just that.

"Jasper, stay here. I would like to take a look at your hand," he ordered, then finished putting on the walking boot on Edward's leg.

"There is no need for that, Carlisle, it's nothing."

"_Nothing_ wouldn't look like a gaping wound, my boy. Now come here and let me see."

Jasper managed to suppress a groan while he stepped around the couch and sat down next to his brother.

Taking his son's hand in his, Carlisle tzked as he saw just how deep the injury was and that his war-experienced son had seriously tried to just wait for it to heal of its own. That would take some time, because the girl had almost bitten a piece off and now that part was barely attached to the rest of his hand anymore. _Always the brave soldier..._

Cleaning the wound and bandaging his boy's hand with aseptic gauze, he then stood before his three children on the couch, waiting for them to tell him what they thought would happen now.

"Well, Rosalie thinks it would be for the best if we'd leave for a little while. A week or two, maybe a month. It really just depends on how long it'll take for them to get her to accept us," Edward informed his father, who just nodded his head thoughtfully.

That would actually be a good idea, Carlisle figured, and it was definitely worth a shot. Their absence would help the girl to concentrate on getting acquainted with this new life and additionally she would finally be able to roam the house freely without having to fear that she might come across one of them. By now it seemed like she was accepting Rose and Emmett to guide her through the difficult first months of her newborn years, and they really didn't want to ruin that. Sure, they all would love to help but it had grown apparent from the first day on that the only thing the rest of them could do to help the girl was to go away and leave her alone.

"You said 'we', son. Am I right in assuming that your presence is disadvantageous as well?"

Edward distorted his mouth. "We had to catch her - she was heading for the town. She doesn't trust me one bit and she doesn't want Alice or Jasper near her. Besides, I prefer to spend time with you over staying in a house with Rose and an impulsive newborn."

Yep, that was Edward.

"All right," Carlisle said and nodded his head in agreement. "Everybody go upstairs and pack what you need. We'll meet in the garage in five minutes."

Alice and Jasper got up from the couch and headed for the stairs to go up to their room, but Edward stayed where he was.

"Carlisle," he asked in a pleading voice, "can I please take my car? I feel uncomfortable not knowing when I will be able to drive it again." Edward really didn't want to leave his car behind for days or weeks or even months. What if someone touched it? Or worse: Crashed it?

Helping his son up so he could also go and pack a bag for himself as they needed to leave soon, Carlisle shook his head and sighed. "Edward, you cannot drive with a broken foot, you know that."

"But-" "All right, we'll just take your car. That's not a problem, son. Now go to your room and get what you need."

Edward nodded and gave his father a thankful smile before he went into the foyer. Walking with this cast around his foot and leg felt awkward, but there was no way Carlisle would let him take it off again just because he didn't like it.

"Esme?" Edward called before his mother could mount the stairs and disappear in her and Carlisle's room to pack some clothes. She stopped and turned around, giving her son a questioning look.

He put a hand on the banister rail, then moved his head closer to her ear and whispered, "She fell."

Her eyes widened and she took a step back, staring at him.

With a little smirk on his lips he nodded, then moved past her and climbed the stairs.

Once upstairs in his room, Edward collected whatever he thought he might need for the time they would be banned from their own house. He didn't really care for packing clothes as he already knew that Alice would deem this situation absolutely perfect for going on another big shopping trip and getting huge amounts of clothes for all of them. But his music was important, as well as some of his favourite books, and so he grabbed a few CDs and novels from his shelves and put them in a duffel bag he had found in his closet.

When he felt that he had everything he would need for this uncertain amount of time, he walked over to Alice and Jasper's room and entered without knocking as the door was wide open.

"Jasper," he said and leaned with his hip against the sideboard by the door. "Maybe you should explain it to them."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Jasper replied without looking up from the gauze bandage around his hand that made him feel like he was some fragile human. _There was no reasoning with Carlisle when it came to injuries, even if they were as minor as this one..._

"Yes, you do."

The blonde man lifted his head and frowned at his brother. "There is nothing to explain."

When Edward just gave him a look that told him that he couldn't fool a mindreader, Jasper let out a long groan. "And what's the point of that? Let's just leave them be."

"I'm not just talking about Rose and Em, I'm talking about Esme and Carlisle as well."

"Again – what's the point of that?"

Edward tried to convince his brother of explaining his reasoning for why he had struck the girl to the rest of the family that couldn't just take glimpses at his mind. They were very unhappy with the way he had dealt with the newborn and thanked God that the others had managed to catch her when she had tried to run away because of his use of violence.

But right from the beginning Jasper had felt that they were heading for a deadlock with the girl as her urge to leave was growing stronger and it was only a matter of time until she would do so. They couldn't allow her to run from them, couldn't let her endanger herself.

Something needed to be done, and so Jasper had decided that since he was the most experienced when it came to newborns, he would take matters into his hands. Besides, he wasn't willing to let anyone else get hurt and he was more than capable of dealing with pain and injuries and fend off lethal attacks. He knew that Rose and Em were the only ones whose presence the girl tolerated and that she hated the rest of them. But he was aware of how much Alice and Esme wanted the girl to like them and that Carlisle longed for the moment she would let him be near her and let him explain, and so Jasper didn't think twice about it when he made the decision to be the person whom she could fear and loathe most from now on so the others would still have their chances of building a healthy relationship with her.

He had slapped her because he knew someone's protective instinct would kick in, and seeing that would give the girl the safety and sense of security he knew she craved and desperately needed. All he had needed was a situation in which it would come to that... and so they had gone hunting. While the girl needed to learn that they shouldn't be picky when it came to the animals they drank from as feeding was a necessity and they had to make do with what they could find, he had to admit that moose wasn't his favourite either. It tasted horrible in comparison to human blood, and it had taken him decades to learn to ignore the taste and just focus on the soothing effect it had on the burning in his throat.

It was great that the girl had been thirsty and therefore irritable, and that they had found moose which she detested had been absolutely perfect. From that moment on he had known that she would defy him.

Of course he would have usually wanted for her to drink something as it was harder for him to control her when she wasn't properly fed, but he had needed her to refuse to feed at that time.

Right now, however, he hoped that she would have some blood so she wouldn't suffer and be able to calm down some even without him using his gift on her.

But he was relieved that his plan had worked – at least that's what it looked like and that's what Alice had told him just now – and so he didn't need to worry too much anymore about her wanting to run away.

Alice gave Rosalie a call before they left the house, letting her know that it was safe for them to return home now. She also told her that they would spend some time at one of their old holiday homes, just an hour or so away.

Hopefully everything would turn out all right - Alice was pretty sure of it, because otherwise the visions that she used to have for months on end wouldn't make any sense. Why would she have visions of someone who would end up running away or let someone kill her? Nope, not possible.

While she was still not in the least bit worried, Jasper had to admit that he did not feel the same as he sat with her and Edward on the back seat of Edward's car. He was starting to feel a little unhappy and worried about the fact that he was forced to leave his sister with a newborn for God knows how long. Sure, Emmett was with them and he was incredibly strong, but Jasper had his doubts that his brother would indeed be able to do what he needed to do if the girl attacked Rose and injured her.

Besides, his ability was needed to deal with newborns... so how was he supposed to control Maddie now?

"They'll be fine. Stop worrying, son," Carlisle said and glanced at him through the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the highway. Jasper was projecting and everyone in the car knew exactly how he was feeling at the moment.

* * *

><p>Rose and Emmett managed to calm the girl even though they didn't have Jasper's ability. As soon as Rose would be willing to talk to him again, she would tell him that there was no need to manipulate a newborn all of the time - just like she had told him countless times already.<p>

It had taken a while, but they had been patient and obviously very convincing, and so she eventually gave in and agreed to come home with them and talk.

Home... she didn't like that word and refused to call that place her home, but nevertheless she followed after them.

What didn't make any sense to her was the fact that Alice had called, telling Rose that the rest of them would leave.

They would leave, so that the three of them could have the house to themselves for a while after the happenings on this day. Maddie didn't understand why these idiots would willingly leave their house for her so that she could stay there without constantly feeling on edge because she hated their presence. Wouldn't it be easier to just let her go?

Entering the house, she noticed that it was quiet just like it always was. There wasn't a single sound to be heard except for the ticking of the grandfather's clock in the living room, and the smells of _them_ were fainter than usual.

"You know what?" Rosalie said while she took her jacket off, "I think you should take a look around the house. Nobody's here and you can go wherever you want."

It might help her settle in quicker if she knew the place she was staying at - they really wanted her to feel at home here and open up to them. But that was next to impossible when the house was filled with people she distrusted and therefore spent all her time locked up in her room.

"I don't care about your house."

Rose sighed. "Just take a look around. That can't hurt, now can it?"

Maddie's head snapped back around and she looked at her with wary eyes. She didn't like Rose's choice of words.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to upset you. I just want you to see that we are being honest with you. There is nobody here except us, and it will stay that way for a while."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, maybe it doesn't make any sense to you, but it does to us. You are like us now, and since we are to blame for that, it is our responsibility to care for you - whether you like it or not. To show you that we care, we made sure that the others wouldn't be here so that you can feel more at ease and don't need to be on the alert all the time."

The girl narrowed her red eyes at Rose. "I thought that are my new instincts."

"That's right. Think about it."

_Oh._ Her instincts told her to be on high alert while these people were around, because they were not to be trusted. She still didn't really understand why she was here and how it should go on from here on out... but it grew apparent that somehow they refused to let her leave.

"Go on, take a look around. There is no need for you to stay in one room only."

Maddie looked at them, still not fully understanding what they were trying to achieve by letting her roam their house and touch their belongings. They didn't know her... shouldn't they be worried that she might steal something? Or break things?

But then she hesitantly nodded her head. Maybe she'd find something that would help her understand why she was here... some hints or the like.

"Take your time, little one. We'll be upstairs if you need us. Oh, and there are movies on the shelves in the living room, just in case you would like to watch one. You can pick whatever you like," Emmett told her before he and Rose ascended the stairs on their way to their room.

They would leave their door open, just in case she would still try to run away. But right now they were pretty sure that her curiosity would overweigh and she would stay inside to look at everything.

Maddie slowly walked into the living room, but since she had been in here already it wasn't very exciting. She carefully sniffed the air to make sure there wouldn't be anyone she didn't want to see, before she entered the kitchen.

It was... a boring, extremely clean and shiny kitchen. As a human she would have probably checked the fridge and the cupboards for food, but that seemed to be really stupid now. It was just not possible that there would be anything she would even consider trying.

At the far end of the room she could see a door, and even though she had an idea where it would lead as it smelled faintly of auto exhaust and rubber, she still wanted to check if she was right.

When Maddie opened the door and entered the garage, she instantly got the feeling that something was wrong. Very wrong.

There were cars standing in the garage, but one car in particular made her frown. It was a black Mercedes.

She had seen that car before and knew whom it belonged to. _But why was it still here?_

Their smell was heavier in this room... everything reeked of _them_ - and _him_.

Immediately she whipped her head around, scanning every corner of the garage to make sure she was indeed alone. She was, but the smell still unnerved her. If _he_ was still here, then she was sure she wouldn't stay.

Walking further into the room, she scanned it from this new position so she would be able to detect anyone who would be in here waiting to attack her.

But she was completely alone, it seemed.

Slowly she started to relax a little and then let her gaze roam.

There were shelves and a big tool cabinet on one side of the room and when she walked over and opened it, she could detect nothing but paint, motor oil and working gloves in there. Several tool boxes stood neatly on the bottom shelf next to the cabinet and Maddie wondered if someone in the family was a little neat freak.

Nothing was out of order in this place, and that was seriously weird.

The wheelie bin standing next to the garage door caught her eye. _Come on, not everything could be so neat and tidy here..._

She slowly walked over to the dark plastic container and lifted the lid a bit, only to drop it again in shock.

Standing there as still as a tin soldier, her mind spinning, she tried to get herself together again.

There had been a weird smell... a nice smell... coming from the bin of all places.

Nothing in this stupid house smelled tempting, everything reeked of them, and their trash of all things was what she liked about this place.

Realising that that was ridiculous and didn't make any sense, she slowly opened the lid again and looked inside to find the source of the smell.

Her eyes fell on a plastic bag from which the smell emerged. She reached inside and pulled the bag out, hearing the familiar rustling of the thin plastic.

She placed it on the hood of the black, extremely shiny Mercedes and slowly opened it to reveal what was inside.

_Clothes? _Nah, that couldn't be.

She reached inside and pulled out the first item her fingers touched. It was a pair of pyjama bottoms. They smelled strongly of something sweet and it calmed her as well as set her off somehow.

A shudder suddenly ran down her spine, and she quickly abandoned the piece of clothing to see what else was in the bag.

It was the matching top, but it was barely recognisable because half of it was brown and slightly crusty or hardened.

It hit her as soon as she saw it.

This was human blood. Very old, dried human blood.

It smelled sweet and pleasant, but not tempting. And there was a hint of bitterness to it - it was the smell of antiseptic and medications, of plaster and very faintly of smoke.

Two things became very clear to her at that moment:

These were the clothes she had died in.

And they had lied to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading and reviewing! :-)<strong>


	27. Chapter 27

She just stood there, looking down at the pyjama top that was matted with blood in her hands, breathing in the soft smell again and again because she couldn't believe it.

The human scent was neither overly tempting nor would it drive her into a fit of bloodlust. It smelled good, but nothing else.

The dried blood looked gross and didn't smell incredibly tempting either - so why had they lied to her? She could easily be around humans without flipping, all she needed to do was hide her crazy freak eyes and then she could live among civilised folks again.

Even now that her throat was parched and she longed for something to drink, she could tolerate the human blood scent. So whenever she would be in dire need of some blood, it still wouldn't be dangerous for the humans surrounding her because she could clearly keep her cool.

A low growl rumbled in her chest.

Each and every one of them was a fucking lying bastard. She should have known that they were all the same. A bunch of dirty liars.

Suddenly she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realised something...

If human blood wasn't the reason why they didn't want to let her go... what was it then?

Oh, she sure as hell wouldn't stay to find out.

The urge, no, the _need_ to leave had never been that strong like it was at that moment.

She quickly glanced around, sniffed the air and listened for movement and sounds in the house, trying to find out if they were nearby.

There was nothing discerning that she could pick up, so they must still be upstairs in their room, she figured.

_Those dirty liars._

She angrily threw the dirty pyjama into one corner of the room, then racked her brain about how she could get away from here without them noticing.

Their deceit infuriated her, and what made it even worse was that she had fallen for it. No, she was so not going to stay here... but then she realised that her scent and the footprints she would leave behind in the snow would probably always lead them to her.

With a huff she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned with her hip against the side of the black Mercedes when suddenly a thought struck her as she looked sideways and at the driver's side of the car.

She took a step backwards and glanced over to the door leading to the kitchen to make sure they still hadn't come downstairs, and then tried the driver's door.

It was unlocked.

_Perfect._

Quickly she got in and grabbed the steering wheel with both her hands... before she realised that she had no keys. There wasn't a key in the ignition, and she hadn't seen any keys in the kitchen or anywhere else. Feeling her anger increase, she was just about to break the passenger seat in half, but right before she would actually do it, she managed to stop herself by taking deep, calming breaths to keep her temper at bay.

Getting angry made it almost impossible for her to think and she couldn't risk that now - she needed to stay focussed.

All she wanted was to get away without leaving any trails behind! Was that too much to ask for? She needed to reach the next city where she could leave the car and make her way back to San Francisco. They would never find her there - too many people, too many scents. She knew her way through the city, knew places they couldn't possibly know about - and she'd be able to see normal people again. People who knew her, people who could hide her. Soon she would be out of here, and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from making a sound as she was getting so excited.

Unfortunately the anger and frustration kicked back in.

She still didn't have any keys.

Letting go of the steering wheel - it had finger shaped dents now from where she had grabbed it - she went through the centre console and the glove box in search of them.

But it grew apparent that these fuckers obviously didn't even trust each other, because she couldn't find _anything_.

No keys!

It was bad enough that she didn't know how to drive - well, she'd manage somehow, she simply had to - but without the keys she would never even get the car out of this stupid garage, much less to the nearest city.

She pressed her fists against her temples in frustration and squinched her eyes shut. First and foremost it was to keep herself from breaking anything, but then she suddenly grabbed the steering wheel again and her head snapped up as she got an idea.

Hot-wiring?

Never in her life had she hot-wired a car, but she knew people who had. She remembered that they had said it was easy... and something about connecting wires. Who knew if they were just trying to show off and were making stuff up... but she didn't have a choice and just had to try because otherwise she would never get away from them and this godforsaken place.

She reached down and fumbled around, hearing a hollow sound when her fingers touched the black plastic cover underneath the steering wheel. She grabbed it and pulled, and a second later the back plastic fell in pieces onto her feet. She was happy to see that she found a cable harness that had been hidden behind the cover. Pulling it out so she would be able to actually see what she was doing, she just looked at the amount of different wires for a moment.

That many?

And they were already connected, so... huh?

Deciding that she couldn't waste any time and needed to figure out immediately how it would work, she just grabbed the bundle of wires with both hands and pulled.

It was incredibly easy ripping them in half, but then she didn't know which ones she needed to connect so the stupid car would start.

Blue and red? Nope.

Yellow and blue? Nothing.

... she tried again and again, but it was a lost cause. The car did not start and her hands started to shake due to all the anger and frustration she was feeling about the unfairness of it all.

A sudden punch to the steering wheel detached it and sent it flying against the wind shield on the passenger side. She rammed her elbow against the driver's door, leaving a dent so deep that the door opened of its own accord.

She climbed out and kicked the front wheel. It was flat in a matter of half a second.

And then she really got started.

She wrecked the car without thinking, just bashed at the sides and the wind shield, shattered the windows and dented the roof. She dug her fingernails into the hood and ripped it open like it was made of paper, then grabbed the big engine through the hole she had just created and threw it against the wall. The trunk was next to get destroyed beyond repair.

The sounds of bending metal and shattering glass was oddly satisfying, but apparently it was also very loud.

She growled when she detected movement out of the corner of her eye, and when she snapped her head around, she saw Emmett and Rose standing in the doorway, looking at her with wide eyes.

Her teeth bared and she threw a piece of the metal window frame at them. Emmett caught it, then eyed the piece in his hand like it was something he considered buying.

Rose folded her arms across her chest. "You can stop now, the car is thoroughly thrashed," she remarked with one raised eyebrow, her tone completely matter of fact. But she didn't move from her spot and seemed reluctant to do so.

"I'm leaving, you lied to me!" Maddie screamed and knocked her knee against the bumper, effectively detaching it from the rest of the... car-like piece of junk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Emmett called, his hands raised in a placating manner. "When did_ I_ ever lie to you?" He didn't know about Rose, but he had definitely not lied to her so far.

"Human smell is _not_ tempting!" she fumed.

"Yes, of course it is! How would you know, little one?"

Rose nudged him in the side with her elbow, then pointed to some discarded clothes lying on the other side of the room right next to the tool cabinet.

"Where did you get that?" she questioned sternly while focussing her attention on the raging girl in front of them.

"_Where did you get that?_" Maddie mimicked her, unable to calm her temper even in the slightest. "I could smell it, and it is _not_ tempting!"

"Of course it is not tempting," Rosalie said with a groan. "That's dried blood. Dead blood."

"Yeah, no shit," Maddie bit back, "I _died_ in that thing."

Her memories, the ones she got back mere hours ago, made this situation even worse for her. She knew by now that she didn't jump out of the stupid window to kill herself or to get away from them, and she really regretted not having tried that while she still had the chance. Now she was trapped here - but not for much longer, she'd made sure of that.

"You're not dead, just -" "Say that one more time and I'll break your nose," Maddie snapped at her while her eyes narrowed into slits.

Emmett stepped in front of his wife in case Maddie would jump over Carlisle's mush of a car and attack her, and he held his hands up, palms facing both girls. "Okay, could we all just calm down now?"

Then he let his hands drop, and turned to face the newborn completely. "Come on, Tiny," he said, "I'll explain to you the human blood-thing."

"Fuck you, I'm outta here," she growled in return, turned around and opened the door to the side.

Unlocked.

These people were weird.

* * *

><p>She could hear them run after her as she darted from the garage and took off in the direction of the forest. She knew nothing about this place, so somehow going somewhere where she had at least a little sense of orientation seemed like a good way to go.<p>

But they knew the area, and she suddenly wondered what's going to happen next. They didn't sleep and they didn't tire... were they going to follow her for all eternity now?

Rose and Emmett ran after her in the dark, leaving enough distance between them so that she wouldn't be able to attack and injure them. Additionally they wanted her to get the feeling of outrunning them and having the liberty of going where she wanted.

There just was no use in tackling her to the ground and pinning her down, growling at her until she would accept that she had to submit. They didn't deem that the right way to get her under control, especially after what had happened that afternoon.

Letting her run through the forest would help her clear her mind a little as there were no other vampire scents that would be able to infuriate her or set her off.

She just needed some time to herself to get acquainted with her new life and deal with all these new impressions.

They followed her while watching her attentively, always calculating her next move. It relieved them to see that after a while of angry running she slowed down her pace. Newborns couldn't stay focussed for long and she had probably already run off some steam, so now she was finally able to think more clearly.

But all of a sudden she ran off faster again, took a turn to the left and jumped into a little clearing.

To see what the heck she was doing, they also picked up their pace.

At the border of the clearing they came to a sudden halt when they saw the girl kneeling on the ground, her arms around a snowshoe hare whose fur was turning red around the neck. They could hear her drink greedily.

Knowing that part of her anger was because of the constant thirst newborns were suffering from, it was good to see that she was feeding now and would soon feel better.

She would be much calmer now with the fresh blood in her system, and hopefully she would be willing to listen to them.

A few moments later and they saw her drop the lifeless animal to the red-tinted snow in front of her, then rock back on her heels.

She was silent as she stared down at her drained prey, and she seemed completely oblivious to their presence.

Reaching out, she started petting the rabbit, letting her dainty fingers run through the thick, white fur, feeling its texture and the warmness of the animal that would turn as cold as the air and the snow and everything else out here in a few minutes. Its body would soon be as cold as hers.

"It used to feel different," she said softly and looked thoughtful, all the while petting her prey. "Fur used to feel different."

Rose and Emmett exchanged a look, then stepped out from between the trees and slowly approached the girl.

"A lot of things feel different now," Rose quietly replied.

They saw her nod her head, her eyes still fixed on the dead animal, before she bit her blood-smeared bottom lip as though in thought.

They slowly walked on until they came to a halt just a few feet from her.

It became silent for a few minutes.

"Do you still want to leave?" Rose asked softly.

Maddie nodded her head again. "I wanna drink something that doesn't taste nasty."

"But people will die."

Her head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at her. "No, they _won't, _you're just saying that because you are a dirty liar. I smelled it, it isn't that tempting. And I could stop before they die. I'll only take a sip or two."

"Maddie," Rose sighed, then knelt down to be at eye level with the girl which made Emmett take a step closer to his wife. "What you smelled was your own blood. Your own dried blood that was tainted by medicine. It's old and dried and not tempting any more, but fresh blood is. A lot. And trust me, you wouldn't be able to stop."

She huffed. "I don't believe you."

Rose sighed again, seeing that after what the girl had found in the garage she had obviously trouble believing them – not that they could blame her. Why had nobody thrown the stupid pyjama into the fireplace and burned it?

"Even if you would be able to stop for whatever reason, the person would start going through the transformation immediately."

Now the girl practically gaped at her. "Wh-what?"

"Remember what I told you about the venom?"

Maddie looked down at her blood stained hands and swallowed heavily. That venom stuff, _his_ venom stuff, had changed her into what she was now. It had hurt so much, she had burnt for what felt like an eternity, and then her heart stopped beating. "It's everywhere," she breathed and glanced back at Rose, who nodded her head and gave her a sad smile.

"Yes, it is. And the moment you bite someone, your venom would enter the wound and start changing the person."

They could see her shoulders sag and she pulled at her long sleeves while her vivid red eyes looked around like she would find a solution to that problem in the snow covered tree tops. "... blood bags?" she asked carefully and distorted her mouth like she already knew that that wasn't an option for them.

"It's not the same. And you would start getting jittery due to a lack of the thrill of hunting. Sooner or later you would slip, especially because you would be used to the taste of human blood and therefore crave it."

Biting her lip, she glanced down at the dead hare before she lifted her head once more and looked at them with big, questioning eyes. "Bear?"

That made Emmett laugh out loud. "Tiny, you got it. Bear is the best!"

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading and reviewing! Oh, some of you might want to go back and read chap 23, because I posted two chapters on... Sunday, I think, and judging by the clicks it looks like some of you might have missed that.<strong>

**Ok, that's it... see you next time!**


	28. Chapter 28

Edward's eyes widened as Alice's vision played out in his mind like a short movie. He watched Rose and Em hurry down the stairs and enter the garage, saw the looks on their faces change as they saw what the girl was doing.

When the vision ended, they turned their heads simultaneously and stared at each other.

Edward sucked in a breath as he realised how close his car had been to being destroyed. Either he or his car had a guardian angel...

"What is it, son? Are you in pain?" Carlisle asked as he heard him doing so and placed the last two suitcases that had been lying in the trunk of Edward's Aston Martin on the floor in the hallway before hurrying over to his son sitting on the couch. He looked concerned, and so Edward sat up straighter and quickly shook his head.

"No, no, I'm fine, Carlisle," he replied. _But your car sure isn't._

Carlisle nodded once after giving him a scrutinising look to check if his son was indeed telling the truth or just trying to hide his pain. There wouldn't be awfully much he would be able to do for him as painkillers wouldn't work on vampires. But at least he could go catch something for him, because the blood would help get his self-healing in gear.

Luckily Esme was upstairs and called Carlisle's name at that moment, and so he stopped eyeing his son and hurried back to the hallway, grabbed the bags and made his way to the master bedroom of the house.

Edward listened to his Dad's footsteps on the stairs and when he was sure he was out of hearing range, he looked back at his little pixie sister. "Oh my God, the entire house trembled when she threw the engine."

"I know!" Alice whispered back, her eyes huge.

"Do you think we should warn them?" Edward asked, wondering if they would still be able to save the car.

"Nah... it's already happening," she replied, knowing that her vision was triggered by her siblings hearing the tumult in the garage and making the decision to head downstairs to check on the girl. So she had gotten the vision only seconds before it actually happened.

Newborns were sometimes a little tricky to see as they mostly acted out of instinct or sudden anger. Visions about more mature vampires were always a lot clearer and there often was a longer time gap between the vision and the actual happening.

"Okay... do you think we should tell him?" He nodded his head in the direction of the stairs, knowing that Alice would understand whom he meant by 'him'.

Alice thought about this for a second. "Um... no. He'll see it soon enough," she replied and scratched her nose like she wasn't entirely sure how their Dad would react and it made her a little nervous. He'd be sad that his car was gone, and he'd be shocked about the distress the girl must have felt that she would flip like that. It was better to let him hear about this when they would come home eventually and see that the girl was calmer and ready to talk to all of them.

Suddenly she started giggling. "You are so lucky, Edward!"

He snickered, even though he had really liked Carlisle's car. But his own car was his baby... and he'd be really upset with the girl and extremely sad about the destruction of this beauty.

Esme came down the stairs and walked into the living room with a smile on her lips. "Are you two having fun? What are you laughing at?" she asked curiously and looked in between them.

"Nothing," they replied at the same time.

"Eeek, gotta go, Jasper is picking the wrong room!" Alice suddenly exclaimed and hurried from the room to bolt upstairs and keep her mate from settling into the room with the view of the forest. She preferred the bedroom on the other side with the view of the beautiful snow-covered mountains. And she preferred to not talk about her vision.

* * *

><p>"Maybe... maybe there is a different way," Maddie whispered while she still had her eyes fixed on the dead hare lying in front of her. The body was cold and hard now, and she was sure that it was already frozen due to the cold temperatures out here.<p>

Emmett frowned. "What do you mean? A different way for what?"

"I mean... are you sure we need blood?" she asked and glanced up at him through thick, dark eyelashes. She was so much calmer now, her blood-red eyes showing no anger or distress anymore, and Rose and Emmett were more than just relieved to see that.

"Um... yeah, pretty much," he replied and really had to suppress a snort. Her question was stupid... but then again: She had no clue, because she was only about a week old.

Maddie thought about that. "But you haven't tried anything else," she stated knowingly.

Rosalie shook her head, and the newborn's eyes were on her now. "No, we haven't. It wouldn't work."

"I don't believe you."

"You know what?" Rose said and started to smirk. "I'm sure we still have some fruit juice and tea at home, if you'd like. You can have as much as you want."

Weirdly enough, Maddie suddenly noticed that she couldn't remember the taste. She knew she drank these when she had been human. Probably even a lot. But now she just didn't remember the taste anymore, even though she could see these beverages in her mind. She didn't remember the smell and didn't know if and how much she had liked it.

Maybe that's why they hadn't tried it, because they also couldn't remember what it had been like.

So human blood was tempting, according to them, but what if she could just get used to different things again and kinda unlearn liking blood? Then she would be normal again – except for her eyes and the fact that she didn't sleep, of course.

Or maybe human food and drinks would make her human again! Was that possible? Maybe it was, but they just hadn't tried it.

A snort escaped her.

_Idiots._

Then she suddenly turned serious and nodded her head. "Yes."

Rose stood up from the ground and motioned for the girl to do the same. "Perfect, then let's go."

They headed home and Emmett seemed to be in a great mood. Maddie didn't really understand why, but maybe he had realised why she wanted to try something different than blood.

And then he would see that it worked and she could laugh in their faces for having been so stupid all those years.

Geez, they even had that stuff at home, but had never once tried it? She snorted again and shook her head while picking up her pace as Emmett wanted to race her home.

They entered the house through the front door, and Maddie sniffed the air before she stepped over the threshold – just to make sure she wouldn't run into _them_ in case they were back.

Luckily they weren't. Nobody was home, it was just them again.

"Follow me," Rose said and went to the kitchen, and as Maddie walked after her she heard Emmett close the door before he hurried after them.

Then she looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to guess where the water boiler was. Esme had put everything back into the cabinets while the girl was going through the transformation, as now the girl wouldn't drink tea anymore just like the rest of them. Only the black and completely unused coffee machine still stood on the sideboard by the window, even though they didn't have any coffee and surely wouldn't have made some for Maddie.

Too young, Carlisle had said.

With a sigh she opened one of the kitchen cupboards and grabbed a tumbler, before shutting it again and placing the drinking glass down with a soft clink on the marble kitchen counter.

Then she turned around and took a few steps until she reached the fridge. She pulled the door open and grabbed a bottle of orange juice.

She held it up and raised her eyebrows questioningly at Maddie, who just nodded her head.

Twisting the cap off, Rose then poured the yellow liquid into the tall glass. Immediately a very gross smell filled the air, and Maddie stopped breathing and held the back of her hand before her nose so she wouldn't have to smell this stink.

That was absolutely disgusting.

While Rose screwed the cap back on the bottle, she looked up at the girl with a little smile.

Maddie quickly moved her hand as though she just wanted to casually rub her nose, then she dropped her hand to her side again and looked nervously at the glass full of yellow horror.

Emmett crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, watching the girl with an amused expression on his face.

Naturally Rose turned around again to put the juice back into the fridge, even though they would throw it out soon as no one in the house would ever finish it, and she moved extra slowly to give her time to realise that she really didn't want to follow through with her plan of drinking something that was not meant for vampires to drink.

At that moment she remembered how gross she had found the smells of human drinks and especially the food when she had been that young... she had always dreaded walking pasts kitchens and restaurants in which food was fried and boiled.

But alas, the girl wanted to try a beverage that was made for humans, and so they wouldn't stand in her way and just let her have that chance. Actually, it would even be beneficial for her, as then she would see that nothing else would work for her. Blood was their diet, and nothing else, period.

Condensation collected on the outside of the glass standing on the counter in front of her, and Maddie just stared at it.

Drinking something cold seemed ludicrous to her... no, she was sure beverages were supposed to be warm. Warm, and red and practically flowing into her mouth without her having to do anything but swallow it down and feel it warm her belly from the inside.

She shook these thoughts from her head as they were clearly coming from the vampire inside of her... humans wouldn't think like that. Humans were okay with cold drinks. And they didn't need to be red.

As Rosalie turned back around, Maddie could feel her eyes on her.

She, as well as Emmett, was watching her but when they noticed that she noticed, they looked at the drinking glass full of a substance they definitely wouldn't want to drink.

"Looks great, huh?" Em asked.

Maddie still held her breath, but slowly nodded her head in agreement - even though she did not really agree.

"Cool and fresh," he added.

"You can have some more, there's enough left," Rose remarked.

Staring at the glass of juice, Maddie felt their eyes on her again... they expected her to really pour this stinking crap down her throat. She had been so determined, wanted to try it so she would see what it would do to her body... soothe the lingering burn in her throat and make it go away completely, for example...

But this smelled worse than moose. A lot worse than moose, even though she had been sure that that wouldn't be possible. Heck, she would hunt down a moose right now and even finish it if she just wouldn't have to take a sip of this horrible stuff standing in front of her.

But she didn't want to back down and give them the satisfaction of being right. One 'I told you so' and she would flip, for sure.

No, she had to try it.

Slowly she took a step closer to the counter... and then another one. Now she would only need to reach out and grab the glass.

Oh God, she really,_ really_ didn't want to do that.

Emmett had half a mind to tell her to stop – she shouldn't torture herself and she had nothing to prove to them. This was nasty, and it was even more so for a newborn whose sense of smell was even sharper than theirs.

Just before he could open his mouth and tell her not to do it, he saw Rose shootng him one of her piercing looks. _Oh_, so she wanted Maddie to drink it, or at least come to realise that she didn't want to drink it because she wouldn't be able to drink anything but blood anymore without feeling completely grossed out.

She needed to let go of her childish fantasies of living among people again without wanting to drain them, Rose thought. It would take years to control that urge, and even then it was difficult. It would always be difficult. But right now it was impossible. A newborn that young... pfft, ridiculous.

No, let her see for herself that she wouldn't be able to do it.

"Go ahead, it's all yours," Rose told her.

Maddie gulped but then took the glass in her right hand, feeling how the condensed water was dabbling her fingertips.

She grabbed it off the counter top and ever so slowly lifted it up to her face. She looked straight into the glass from above, seeing the cloudy liquid slosh slightly.

It was one of the grossest things she had ever seen in her life. This yellow stuff smelled so bad and there were little particles swimming around in it like little fish... no, just no.

She couldn't... but she had to.

Before she raised the glass to her lips however, she did something she instantly regretted.

She took a hesitant breath and almost gagged.

_This stuff was absolutely disgusting, and nobody on this planet should ever have to drink it!_ It looked nasty and unhealthy, _lethal_ even.

Her face distorted as the stench crept into her nostrils, and she quickly put the glass back on the counter. She really had to restrain herself or she would have just thrown it against the wall or something, just to get it far, far away from her.

"What? Don't you wanna try it? Just take a sip."

_Um..._ "I don't like pulp," she told Emmett and rubbed the back of her hand over her face again in an attempt to get the smell out of her nose without them noticing.

"Oh," Rose uttered. "I see. Well, we could drive to the store and get some without pulp for you, if you'd like."

The thought horrified her, but still she tried to sound really casual as she replied, "Yup. But there's no hurry."

"Maybe a tea?"

Maddie thought she was going green in the face from that offer. Tea... that sounded just as nasty. And maybe it would smell even worse as they would pour boiling water over some dried pieces of fruit or leaves. Nah, she couldn't risk it.

"I'm not really in the mood for tea right now."

"Hm..." Rose tapped her chin with her right index finger while she pretended to think about what else they could offer her to drink. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I think we still have a few cans of lemonade somewhere..."

"You do?" she asked, pretending she was interested in the nasty stuff, just so that she could leave this smelly kitchen. _Please let it be somewhere far away from this room..._

"In the basement, I think. We have a little storage room down there, it's the first door on the right. Would you like to go look for it?"

"Sounds great, I'll be right back."

"Take your time."

Maddie ran from the room like a scalded cat, and as soon as she had descended the stairs, she took a deep breath, enjoying the stink free air. This was so much better... no weird food smells, just air that smelled of stacks of paper, ink and wooden furniture. Wait... why did she know what paper smelled like? Oh... she remembered that paper and books did have a certain smell, but she found it weird that she would get such an intense smell from something like that down here.

Instead of going into the room Rose had told her to, she walked down the hall and wanted to enter a room on the left, but the door wouldn't open when she pushed down on the door handle. Of course it would be easy to break the door down and just walk inside, but she suddenly wasn't interested in that anymore. An office in the basement... woah, fascinating.

She shook her head, then turned around and leaned with her back against the closed door, taking another deep breath while she thought about what she would be doing now.

But with that deep breath she took, she picked up a familiar scent that made her frown. Something down here had the same dead blood scent that she had smelled on the clothes she had found in the garage... how could that be?

She sniffed the air to locate the source of it, and then headed down the hall and into a room that - much to her surprise - wasn't locked.

It took her a moment to understand what she saw there, as it didn't make any sense to her.

The room was completely empty, except for a white couch that stood by the wall and was missing seat cushions.

It looked completely spotless, so why did this couch smell of her blood when there wasn't any blood?

She walked over to the piece of furniture and sat down on it, even though it didn't have its comfortable cushions any more. But she wasn't ready to go upstairs again and she wasn't ready to forget about what happened on this day and the ones before that.

* * *

><p>"Rose," Emmett said as he watched his wife pour the juice into the sink, then open the tap to wash it away and with it the funny smell. The glass she threw into the bin standing underneath the sink, as she wouldn't run the dishwasher for just one glass and she didn't feel like washing it. Not like they needed drinking glasses anyways...<p>

"Hm?"

"Why do you keep this up? She won't drink anything - you could see it in her face that she was about to gag from the smell alone."

She smiled. "I know, but I want her to see for herself that these things aren't an option for our kind. Let's give her time to realise this, and then she'll be one step closer to understanding what she is now. Soon she'll realise why she cannot go back to her old life - just telling her isn't doing the trick, obviously. Now she can find out for herself."

"She's not coming back up," he remarked.

"_Would you?_ Go open a window, I'm sure the smell is burning her nose... poor thing."

Emmett walked over to the window and opened it to let some of the cool and fresh air in that would soon thin out the smell of the nasty orange juice.

"... I think I'll go check on her," Rose said as she was now also wondering why it was taking so long for the girl to come back upstairs. Well, she did have an idea why she wouldn't - nobody likes the stuff humans eat or drink - but she also wanted to make sure that Maddie wasn't feeling pressured into having to drink anything.

Downstairs in the basement she could easily follow the girl's trail of scent and found it leading her in a complete different room than where she had expected to find her.

She walked down the hall, then peeked into the room, detecting Maddie sitting on their old couch that had been standing in the living room until it got... ruined.

"You didn't find the cans, did you?"

"Did you lock me down here?" Maddie asked softly.

Rose blinked at her in confusion for a moment, until she realised what she was talking about. She stepped up to her and sat down on one of the armrests of the white couch. "No. You know you were in a room on the upper floor, and we never locked the door."

Maddie sighed, then lifted her head to look at her like she was waiting for her to go on.

"You are wondering why the couch smells of you."

Maddie nodded, but then clarified, "I am wondering why it smells of my blood, but doesn't have any blood on it."

"Okay...," Rose said and looked down on her folded hands for a moment, before clearing her throat and then shifting a bit so she would be able to look the girl in the face. "This is the couch we used to have in the living room. The couch cushions had been soaked with your blood - you've seen the clothes you had been wearing when you fell."

She bit her lip before continuing. "I don't know why it's still here, maybe Esme thought she could get new cushions for it... anyways, Alice and Jasper brought their couch down so we would have a cosy living room again."

Maddie bit her lip. "What did it look like?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"The couch...," Maddie said, "what did it look like?"

_Oh._ "You don't want to know."

Well, that was all she needed to know...

Rose noticed how silent and sad the girl became, and it made her sad as well. Maybe both of them could use some cheering up... and that would be Emmett's job. "Come, we'll watch a movie."

Nodding, Maddie got up from the couch and headed for the stairs. She disappeared in their room for a movie, and Rose figured it was because of the fact that the new couch downstairs was Alice and Jasper's. She really didn't like them.

But as long as she would stay and not try to run away again, they were completely okay with that for now.

* * *

><p><strong>I wrote this entire chapter today, because I realised that there was something missing in the little collection of chapters I have for this story. I just couldn't find that part again, and so I had to write it anew, urgh. And then I realised that I needed a little more because we will skip a few weeks in this story, and so I wrote yet another chapter today to make the time gap less... weird, I dunno. I swear sometimes it's a little difficult to predict the length of a story, because suddenly you get an idea or see that something would somehow disturb the flow or something is missing and then you need to add a little more and... *sigh* Oh, whatever, hope you like it, and thanks for reading and leaving a review!<strong>

**Oh, and that means that this story is going to have 36 chapters now ;-) And yep, you'll get two chapters today!  
><strong>


	29. Chapter 29

Edward called Rose the next day, even though the family had decided to leave Rose and Em alone for the first few days or so. They would surely call them if something went wrong or they needed help. And they would also call to tell them when they could come home again.

But nevertheless, Edward picked up the phone and dialled his sister's number. She picked up after the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Rosalie," Edward said, and immediately he heard her sigh.

"You cannot come back just yet," she told him immediately and heard him groan on the other end.

"I know, that's not why I am calling."

"Then hurry up and tell me why you are calling. I don't want her to hear me speaking on the phone and be wary."

He cleared his throat. "Send her to my room."

"_What?_"

"Send her to my room," he said again. "I know she probably doesn't feel like going in there because she doesn't like me, but please, just tell her that she can go in there."

Rose shifted from one foot to the other and placed her free hand on her hip. "And why would I do that?"

"She likes music, just like everyone else does. I didn't take many CDs with me, so she still has enough to choose from."

"Edward-," she started to say, but he interrupted her.

"Just tell her. I have a big collection, let her pick something she likes."

She snorted. "Sure, and then you'll get upset with me if she happens to break something of yours. I don't think so."

Now it was his turn to let out a snort. "You think that's why I am calling? Because I'm bored and feel like arguing with you?"

"Who knows," she replied and he could practically see her checking her nails, because she always did that as she knew he hated it. It was one of her most obnoxious habits.

"That girl will break half the house if you don't give her enough options to busy herself with. Now that Jasper isn't around to step in when she gets angry or upset, we need something else to help her keep an even keel... well, as much as that's possible, I mean."

"Uh-huh," she muttered absent-mindedly. She had no idea why he used the word 'we', as she and Emmett were more than capable of taking care of the newborn and keeping her entertained.

Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment before telling her in a soft voice, "Rose, music can be a guiding light… just tell her she's welcome to go into my room and pick a few CDs to listen to." Then it was silent for a second before Edward quickly added in a low hiss, "_But you better not let her go anywhere near my piano._"

And then he hung up.

Rose just stood there, staring at her phone in her hand, gasping at her brother's audacity to call her only to hang up on her like that.

But then she realised that his idea wasn't that bad. Let the girl roam the house, and let her do what she wants. Whatever would keep her busy for a while and give her breaks from all the mood swings was fine with her.

She walked into her and Emmett's room and found Emmett lying on the bed while Maddie sat cross-legged on the floor, holding one of Em's dark-green hoodies in her hands and looking at it with a frown.

Rose sighed with relief. "Oh, yes, please. Change into that one, so I can wash the one you have been wearing for days and nights on end now," she told the girl, making her scowl at her.

"But it's mine," she argued. She didn't want a different one - she didn't need a different one. And she didn't want Rose to take it from her... maybe she won't give it back.

"Of course it is. But if you put this on and let me wash the other one, then you'll have two. How's that?"

"I don't think that I need two," she replied and shook her head. She wouldn't let her trick her, no.

"Ah," Emmett said and laughed. "Two is better than one, Tiny. And I'm giving it to you as a present just like the first one, so now it's yours and you cannot give it back."

Maddie turned her head to gape at him. "But-" "No, you cannot give it back. Sorry, too late," he told her and shrugged his shoulders like his hands were bound and there was nothing he could possibly do about it.

Her brow furrowed as she tried to understand what she was feeling at the moment.

Rose cleared her throat to made the girl turn her head and look at her, and when she did, she gave her a smile. "Off you go. Get changed and then we could…," she trailed off, thinking of something fun they could do together.

"We'll watch a movie, Rose," Em said and rolled his eyes, wondering why she even had to think about what they were going to do now. "Tzk, you're getting old, babe. Of course we'll watch a movie! She said she hasn't seen The Thing yet, and I just cannot accept that."

Maddie shook her head to ease out of the weird emotions and thoughts, then got up and clasped the hoodie to her chest. "I go get changed," she whispered.

"Hurry," Em said.

"Um… thank you for this," she muttered and glanced at Emmett, before turning around and walking from the room.

"And don't forget that your jeans are dirty, too!" Rose called after her, then climbed up on the bed to curl up next to her mate. When he smiled at her, she suddenly slapped his thigh. "I'm not getting old."

"Aww, I know, Rosie. I didn't mean it."

Taking that as an apology, she nodded her head. "Thank you," she said before she gave him a look of confusion. "Emmy... what's The Thing?"

He practically gaped at her. "_What's the...?_ That's like having two newborns to care for!" He threw his hands in the air and shook his head in disbelief.

Quick footsteps from the hallway made them look up right when Maddie came into the room, looking more at ease again. Emmett's green hoodie was also way too big on her, just like the other one, and it reached down to her knees. She sighed, then held the dark blue hoodie and her jeans up, before she threw them at Rose, who caught the clothes before they would hit her in the face.

"Here," she said and gave them something that almost resembled a smile.

Then she walked towards them and sat down on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest before she pulled the huge hoodie over them to make herself comfortable. Rose got up with a sigh, then pulled the socks off the girl's feet which were also dirty, and it drew a quick growl from Maddie. But she quickly settled down when she saw Rose wasn't going to hurt her in any way and luckily she didn't even notice Em tense up beside her.

Rose straightened up again and headed for the door to put the dirty laundry in the washer - after that they could enjoy whatever it was Em had picked out.

"Hey…," Maddie said thoughfully.

"Yes?" Emmett asked.

"I saw a big wooden cross yesterday."

"Yup, we have one," he confirmed, purposely leaving out the fact that it was Carlisle's.

"I thought you would worship Satan," Maddie remarked rather randomly while she looked at the Dvd player.

Rose, who had already reached the door, dropped the clothes. "You… _what?!_"

Emmett had to cover his mouth so he wouldn't laugh at his wife, because the way she reacted was just hilarious.

Maddie shrugged her shoulders, then glanced over her shoulder at Emmett. "Hey… where's the movie?"

* * *

><p>A few days passed and Maddie had to admit that it felt good to know that <em>they<em> weren't around anymore and that her instincts didn't force her to be on the alert all of the time. Well, she still kinda was, but it felt different. Even her overly extreme mood swings were gone, and she couldn't help but wonder why that had changed.

Rose and Emmett had told her she would get used to this new life and maybe that was slowly happening. Maybe the mood swings had just been some kind of after effects of the transformation, who knew.

Rose just told her that it was completely normal at first to have trouble controlling ones emotions and instincts.

Well, at least she wasn't feeling so empty and forlorn anymore. She was still kinda angry a couple of times a day, and to be honest, she wasn't sure if that would ever stop.

Something she really couldn't understand was why they had left. This was their home, and they had just up and left. Wouldn't it have been easier to just let her go? Or kick her out? Or they could have let her die and none of this would have ever happened.

She liked that thought.

No pain, no anger and no instincts she had trouble handling. No weird people.

No venom.

No vampires.

She felt like she had made so many mistakes in her short life already, that there just wasn't any room for more. Why they had been stupid enough to bring her here and change her was beyond her. They had obviously known about her, so they should have known that as well.

But they couldn't turn back time, and so she had to try and get used to everything.

Days slowly turned to weeks and she grew more and more comfortable around them.

That was until one afternoon in late March.

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><p><strong>Yup, a short one, but I just couldn't make it part of the next chapter... Thanks for reading! :-)<br>**


	30. Chapter 30

They had told her they wouldn't come back.

She had started to trust them, she had felt how some of the tension that was constantly accompanying her had vanished and was replaced by a sense of... relief. It felt so good being able to roam the house freely and try to find out more about the way they lived – the way she would be able to live if she wanted to. It wasn't that much different from a human life – going to school or to work, going shopping or the movies, bowling, running, swimming, playing all kinds of games, watching TV… the list was endless. These were all things she knew and she had enjoyed most of them, and it was still possible to do these without too many limitations. Okay, she couldn't do everything just now, they said, but after a while she would be able to interact with humans and try to fit in. It sounded like fun fooling a bunch of people at the same time, because that was exactly what they were doing on a daily basis by acting human when they were among humans.

They spent so much time talking about the future and how much easier it was going to get for her as soon as she would be a little older, and she sometimes caught herself looking forward to that. It was like she could hope again, even though she had been so sure that that wouldn't be possible anymore for someone or something like her.

And she had to admit that the time she had spent here _without them_ had been good… not great, but good. Okay. Fine.

But now she could clearly hear a car pull onto the path that led to this house, and she heard Rose and Emmett hurrying down the stairs while whispering fiercely to each other like something wasn't right.

Maddie knew exactly what wasn't right.

They were back.

She was shocked and felt angry and scared at the same time – she couldn't believe it, but they were indeed back.

Just like that.

It was their house, of course, but Rose had assured her that it would take some time until she would let them come back again. They would wait for her to call them, or so she had told her. But the way Rose and Em were acting just now, it seems that no one had told the others to come home and it became clear that they weren't exactly welcome at the moment.

Maddie could hear them enter the house – she could sense their presence... heck, she could even _smell_ them.

The same emotions she had felt right from the beginning were resurfacing at that moment, and she knew she would be panicking and gasping for air by now if she were still human.

She could have snorted at how that sounded… if she were still human… who would have thought that there was something else. Something supernatural, much more powerful than anything she had ever known or seen.

She could hear raised voices from downstairs like they were arguing with each other. It went on for a minute or two and Maddie spent that time straining her ears to listen and contemplating running as they were clearly distracted at the moment.

Yes, that's what she would do. Staying with them was not an option anymore… while they had been gone she had started to reconcile with the idea of staying… but now she was angry with herself for ever thinking such a thing. She should have run when it had been only the three of them… now it was one against seven.

She didn't think she really had a chance, but she just had to try and she needed to do it now before they would come up here and check on her or something. A head start of just a few minutes was better than none at all, she figured.

With hurried steps she made her way over to the window while trying to be really quiet even though they probably wouldn't be able to hear what she was doing anyways as they were still arguing loudly.

Opening the window and glancing back over her shoulder at the closed door to make sure she was indeed still alone and nobody had noticed her, she was just about to climb up on the window sill when the door suddenly burst open.

Jasper stormed into her room, not bothering to knock or even call her name so she would be able to prepare herself for having to face him.

She felt her muscles coil as she crouched by the wall. His rude intrusion had taken her completely by surprise, and now she was unsure whether she should just charge or wait for him to attack and then defend herself as best as she could. She hoped despite hope that she would be able to injure him enough so she could flee. He would hurt her, too, of course... but who wouldn't take a little pain for freedom?

He walked further into the room, and she tried to keep as much distance as possible between them. She moved along the wall until she hit the desk with her hip, and then she stopped and tensed as she couldn't move any further without getting too close to him.

Her eyes darted to the window again and again, then back at him.

"Stop that," Jasper snapped as he noticed what she was looking at and what she was contemplating. He knew he was intimidating, additionally his scars made him look fierce and cold-hearted and brutal, and he knew that that was exactly what she was seeing when she looked at him. He could feel it.

She didn't like him being so close to her, and her senses were on high alert while her mind raced for the quickest and safest way out of here.

"Calm yourself, you are not in any kind of danger," he told her in an attempt to soothe her nerves and reassure her that he had not come up here to hurt or threaten her.

_Right._ She narrowed her eyes at him.

He took a step closer to her, and she crouched lower, her teeth bared. Another step, and weirdly enough she started to feel calmer instead of feeling the urge to fight.

At that moment she realised that it had been a while since she had felt these contradicting emotions... feeling calm did not fit the situation, and she was thoroughly confused. She knew that something wasn't right here, and she knew that if it still could, her heart would be pounding like a jackhammer in her chest. Something was really wrong here... it wasn't just that he was in her room and standing way too close for her to be comfortable... no, something was wrong with _her_. But she couldn't let it break her concentration.

She kept her eyes on him, but the confusion over her growing calmness made her eyes shift and her stance faltered. It was hard to concentrate on defending herself and trying to predict his next move when she didn't even know what she would do next. _What was wrong with her?_

The confusion that surged through her peaked, and nervousness over her shifty emotions joined in. Her hands started trembling with the effort of trying to ignore it.

He noticed.

Tilting his head to the side he watched her for a moment before he let out a sigh.

"Just stop it already," he said. It sounded like he was trying to be nice, but it was also very commanding.

Telling her what to do in a situation like this was something she really didn't like, and so she growled.

An eyebrow climbed up into his hairline. "Are you done?"

He should have known that that would neither help her calm down nor make her feel less confused and stressed. But he was not in the mood for standing here any longer as all he wanted was to take her downstairs to the living room, so all of them could sit down together and talk.

A few weeks had passed since she had gone through the transformation, and they needed to brief her about everything that happened before that and everything that was going to happen in the near future. They would have to move in a few months and if they did, they would go somewhere completely secluded. No school, no work. Just taking care of the newborn until she would be civil enough that she could learn to play her role and thereby contribute to the safety they would also provide her with. They had a hierarchy, and she needed to learn to submit as she was the weakest and most inexperienced member of their coven now.

She had had enough time to adjust, they had even left their own house for a while... but the period of grace was over now. No newborn would ever be spoilt like that, and so she just had to accept that this was it now and deal with it.

"Come here."

_Like hell._ Her eyes narrowed even more - if that was even possible - and her nostrils flared while a growl emanated from her chest.

Unsurprisingly he was getting a little annoyed by that. Growling at someone with a higher rank was disrespectful and provocative. He wasn't going to fight the newborn, well, he would if he'd have to, but he knew it would be counterproductive for what Rose and Emmett had already achieved with her and it wouldn't help with the talk they wanted to have with the girl downstairs.

So he had to make do with what he knew he was good at and that wouldn't leave any lasting or visible marks - he cranked up the calming effect and tuned down her defensiveness. It might take a moment or two considering how worked up she was right now, but he was convinced it would work.

Due to his manipulation, a new sensation of heavy confusion surged through the girl and she instantly felt even more like a caged animal.

Jasper's jaw clenched as he realised that the changing of her emotions didn't quite work the way he had intended. Her confusion overshadowed his influence, and while he internally groaned, he just enhanced his influence until she would feel what he wanted her to feel.

He was quite satisfied a few moments later, as she slowly seemed to relax and her facial features softened again.

"Now come with me. We'll talk in the living room."

She looked at him, and he added, "Rose and Emmett are already downstairs. You are making them wait."

But even then that stupid newborn wouldn't move.

"Come," he ordered and stretched his hand out toward her.

"Don't touch me," she whispered with a weak growl. Her anger and defensiveness was almost gone.

Feeling that she was practically incapable of fighting and wouldn't be able to even scratch him, he walked up to her, grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her up so she wouldn't crouch by the desk anymore.

He pulled her in the direction of the hallway and could hear her mutter, "Let go. Leave me alone."

Rolling his eyes, he continued his way to the door with her in tow, when a sound from outside distracted him for a moment and he turned his head to look over to the window.

That second of distraction, of not concentrating on influencing her, was enough for her heavy, contradicting emotions to push through again.

The confusion she had felt the whole time had been connected to her defensiveness, and it kicked back in full force.

He felt her pry his fingers off her upper arm and he spun his head around to look at her.

Her pitch-black eyes blazed for a moment and she yelled, "Get lost!"

He stared right back at her without blinking, his eyes oddly vacant looking and Maddie immediately dropped his hand as though burnt and took a step back. Then another one, until she ran backwards into the wall.

She was frozen in place as she watched him starting to move his head like he was trying to look around, but his eyes were just wide and unblinking and she almost got the feeling that he wasn't seeing anything at all. She couldn't understand why he was doing this and didn't know what to expect or how to react to him acting that way, so she stayed where she was and didn't move.

And all of a sudden he darted over to the window and jumped out.

* * *

><p><strong>:-)<br>**


	31. Chapter 31

The argument downstairs had started as soon as the family had set foot in the house and Rose had tried to keep them out. After a few calming words from Esme, they went to the living room to talk, but it turned into arguing again... or it might have never really stopped.

Somehow Edward and Jasper had managed to convince Carlisle and Esme to go back home, as they couldn't spend God knows how many weeks away from their own home. If they wanted to make the newborn part of the family and give her the chance to get to know them, then they needed to be there. The last few weeks would have been enough for her to overcome the first shock and getting acquainted with everything – so now it was time to bring the family back together and move back into their family home. Besides, Alice had used the time to go shopping, and now she had bags full of clothes for everyone. Naturally she was getting giddy with excitement about the thought of going home and handing out the new designer pieces, and eventually they agreed that it was better for all of them to return before she would drive everyone crazy.

But unfortunately, they hadn't called.

That was what angered Rose and why she stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips or angrily pointing her right index finger at her younger brother or her father, all the while hissing out angry words and demanding to know what the heck they had been thinking that they would just come home like that.

While she and Edward had been busy arguing with each other and ignoring Carlisle who tried to calm his two passionate squabblers, Jasper silently removed himself from the room and headed upstairs to go get the girl and bring her downstairs. Listening to Rose and Edward going off on each other wouldn't get them anywhere.

After a minute of shouting at each other, Edward leaned back in his seat with a scowl on his face and let Carlisle take over, when suddenly shouting from upstairs made them stop and look up at the ceiling as if that way they would be able to see what was going on up there.

"We shouldn't have let him go upstairs," Esme whispered and shook her head, immediately regretting not having stopped her blonde son from ascending the stairs.

"We? How...? _Who_ let him go upstairs?" Rose asked and motioned towards the staircase. She hadn't realised that Jasper had left the room.

Edward's eyes went wide as he listened to the confused thoughts of the newborn, and then noticed the sudden lack of his brother's. "Something's wrong."

They looked at him and Rosalie huffed before she stalked out of the room and in the direction of the stairs. "Let me handle it, you've done enough already," she spat when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Esme gasped and was about to get up from the armchair she was sitting in.

She was upstairs in a flash and headed for Maddie's room. The door was still open and when she looked inside, she found the girl sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and glaring at the carpet with dark eyes.

Rose frowned.

Jasper was nowhere to be seen, and it didn't make any sense... he had just walked upstairs and went in here, hadn't he? But he really wasn't here.

The fresh air that drifted into the room through the open window washed her brother's scent away, and now it was just as faint as it was in the hallway.

He wasn't here, and Rose smelled that he wasn't even in the house anymore.

"Jasper came in here, didn't he?" she asked and watched the girl snap her head up. "Hm?"

She nodded her head jerkily.

"And then... what? Where is he?"

Maddie glanced at the open window, and Rose turned her head to see what she was looking at.

"Out there?" she asked and pointed in the direction the girl had implied.

She nodded again.

"Why did he leave?"

Rose frowned at her when she didn't answer, then stalked over to the window and looked out. She could see Jasper's footprints in the snow, and he must have headed east.

Turning her head back around to glance at the girl, she questioned, "What did he say to you? What happened?"

But all Maddie did was pull the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands and hug her knees again.

A weird feeling started to form in the pit of Rose's stomach and she took a calming breath to steady her nerves while she asked, "Would you please talk to me?"

The girl's eyes weren't as dark as before anymore, but she still seemed to be distressed... and angry. Why? Who knew.

"I hate him," she growled, and Rose needed a moment to understand what she had said as she spoke so quietly. "I told him not to touch me."

"He... grabbed you?"

She nodded.

_Oh dear_. "What happened then?"

"His eyes went all weird and he left," she replied in a barely audible whisper and glanced back at the window, her eyes narrowing into slits like she was expecting him to come back any second now and the thought alone was making her anxious and angry.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," Rose said and made to leave the room, but a growl coming from the girl made her stop.

"Okay," she said, "I'll shut the window." She walked back over to the window and closed it, before she turned around and made to leave the room again so she could go talk to the rest of the family. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Tip the window."

"Geez...," Rose muttered and spun around again. She raised an eyebrow at the girl and they just looked at each other, before Rose heaved a sigh.

"Fine, I'll tip the window," she said, then did as the girl had asked. She probably was just hoping to pick up his scent so she would be able to prepare herself in case he would come back, but he wouldn't be able to enter through a tipped window. Well, as long as he didn't want to break it, that is.

That was actually understandable.

"Now stay here and wait for me, all right?"

Rose hurried downstairs while fishing her phone from the pocket of her jeans and hitting Jazz's number on speed dial. As soon as she reached the foyer, however, her brother's ring tone rang out through the house, coming from the living room.

Jasper's phone was lying on the coffee table.

"Great." Rose shut her phone and shoved it back into her pocket, then stepped closer to the rest of her family.

Alice looked distraught, even though she seemed to concentrate hard on something. "No, I cannot see," she whispered to Esme, who had an arm around her shoulders and tried to calm her daughter.

"She did something," Edward stated, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and just as she opened her mouth to say something, Edward decided to explain. "He grabbed her by the arm after calming her, then she yelled at him to get lost and he jumped out of the window. He is out of my hearing range."

"Oh, come on...," Emmett groaned and leaned back in his seat and gave his brother a weird look. "What could she have possibly done to him? Are you crazy?"

"No, wait, Emmett," Carlisle held a hand up to stop his burly son from speaking further while eyeing Edward. "What do you know, Edward?"

Edward shrugged his shoulders, for he couldn't give him any more info than he already had. "Exactly what I said. She suddenly panicked and yelled at him, and all of a sudden his mind went blank for a moment. I couldn't grab a single coherent thought from him and then he left."

Carlisle looked thoughtful and crossed his arms over his chest. "That is very peculiar."

"She did something," Edward said again like they hadn't heard him the first time he had said it, and it annoyed Rose. "She seemed to be very confused, but I'm sure she did something."

"Would you stop accusing her? His gift backfired on him," she snapped.

Edward snorted and turned his head to look at her. "It _backfired_? Are you stu-"

"No, no, stop it, you two...," Carlisle said and stood up from his armchair. He held a finger to his lips while contemplating something, and then asked, "Did something similar happen before?"

Crossing her arms tightly, Rose huffed. "No?"

This talk was absolutely ridiculous. Just because Edward insisted that the girl was to blame for Jasper's sudden absence, Carlisle immediately believed him. Well, it was strange that Jasper was gone... and the circumstances hadn't been exactly clear, but nevertheless, Maddie hadn't attacked him or the like.

"Anything peculiar?" Carlisle asked and looked in between Rose and Emmett.

Emmett shook his head, and Rosalie let out a deep sigh. "No, Carlisle. She has the typical newborn anger issues and mood swings, but that's it. There is nothing wrong with her, except that she doesn't want you near her but you came here anyways and then Jasper pestered and manhandled her," she told him. Her eyes suddenly darkened and she added in an icy voice, "I did not give you the nod to come back."

Edward cleared his throat, partially because he wanted to say something important and partially because he didn't feel like discussing this once more... yes, they were home now.

_Tough shit, Rose._

"I don't know what you are planning on doing now, but I am going outside to find Jasper," he said and stood up, looking around with raised eyebrows to see who would join him and who would just sit around and do nothing.

"I'm coming with you," Alice exclaimed and jumped up. Her husband was gone and she couldn't see anything concerning him... of course she was going to search for him.

"I think we all should head out and look for him. The more, the better. Let's find him," Carlisle said and together they left the living room and headed for the front door.

Even Rose, Esme and Emmett, who had remained silent, followed. Jasper had never acted that way, and they couldn't see any reason for him to just leave without even telling them where he was going or when he'd be back. Too bad that he didn't have his phone on him, or they could have easily called and asked him.

When they reached the door and the children walked out onto the front porch, Esme put a hand on her husband's forearm to stop him from going outside as well as she really needed to talk to him. "Someone needs to stay here," she remarked in a quiet voice and looked over her shoulder at the staircase. "You go find Jasper, I will stay."

At that moment Edward came back inside and he shook his head disapprovingly at his mother. "Mom, no. That's too dangerous."

Weirdly enough, Carlisle seemed to agree. "Let's bring our son home first."

"Then let me ask her if she would join us."

"I doubt she would be ready to speak to you just now or be willing to go look for Jasper. Come, dear," Carlisle urged as they might lose valuable time, but still he tried to keep his voice gentle and calm.

But Esme took a step back. "We cannot leave the poor child here, all alone."

"I'm sure she needs some time to herself in order to calm down. We need to go now, come."

"She fed this morning and won't leave the house as long as she knows that we are out there and would catch her," Edward said, hoping it would calm his mother. "She doesn't want to be touched."

Esme hesitated for a moment, then looked at her son and nodded, before she let her husband guide her outside.

If even Rose and Em were joining them instead of staying home, then it meant that they were sure the girl could be on her own for a little while. Personally she wouldn't leave a young newborn out of her sight, but she just had to trust them.

And Carlisle was probably right... all of them were needed to find Jasper as quickly as possible, because no one knew what was wrong with him.

While they went to the side of the house to find Jasper's footprints and follow them, Esme once again held her husband back before he could run in the direction their children had taken.

"What do you think, Carlisle?" Her eyes held concern and anxiety was clearly audible in her voice.

"I'm not sure, love."

She crossed her arms and gazed at the ground while she shifted from one foot to the other. When she looked back at him again, her eyes became pleading. "Let me stay here, we don't know-"

"No. She can stay on her own for a while and I don't want you to be in the same room with her as long as we don't know what happened."

Esme didn't know if she was disappointed with herself for contemplating not to join the search party for her son or if she was just disappointed that she couldn't try and speak to the girl. Or maybe she was just disappointed that her husband considered the girl dangerous, even though the poor thing was alone and didn't know what was going on. "So you also think she did something."

He sighed and raked his hand through his blonde hair, as they were still standing here talking instead of looking for their son. "Jasper is experienced when it comes to his ability, and I don't think changing her emotions backfired on him. That is not possible."

She swallowed heavily. "So you do think it's her, don't you?"

"It is a possibility, yes. If it is indeed something she has done, then I will deal with her. I am more experienced with this 'different kind' of newborn than Rose or Emmett. There isn't much that they can do to help her now." Emmett had never raised a newborn before, and Rose had only experience with her husband when he had been a newborn. Right now they didn't know what Maddie had done, and he wasn't willing to let anyone be alone with her for as long as he didn't know what she was capable of doing. An impulsive newborn with an unknown, active ability was dangerous in his eyes - even if she was only a confused, little girl.

They slowly walked away from the house, and Esme whispered, "What if... what if she knew what she was doing?" She started to realise that there weren't awfully many explanations for her son's odd behaviour, the fact that Alice couldn't see what he was doing and Edward not being able to comprehend his thoughts. There wasn't anything wrong with developing an ability, it would be a part of her from now on... but they needed to find out what it was and help her control it. Or if she was already aware of having a gift, then they needed to find out if she was only trying it out on Jasper or if she was still so appalled by the thought of staying with them that she truly wanted to hurt them.

"Edward said she was confused, Esme, so I doubt that. Come now... as soon as we find Jasper, we'll be able to find out what happened," he said and together they broke out into a run and followed the trails of footsteps their children had left in the thick, white snow.

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><p>Emmett, Edward, Alice and Rose followed Jasper's footprints as far as they could, but after forty miles or so he had obviously switched from running through the snow to jumping from one tree to another to continue his way, before he had chosen to run again. He had been going in circles and taken weird routes, running in zig-zags for no apparent reason and then he must have taken off through the river as they could neither pick up his scent anymore nor sense him in any way. Alice looked frightened and Edward was running ahead of the others as fast as he could to check if he could get a glimpse of his brother's mind, but it was like he had vanished into thin air.<p>

They had lost his scent completely and when Esme and Carlisle caught up with them, they, too, felt at a complete loss as to what to do. They split up in order to cover a wider area and hopefully find at least some trace of Jasper, but it seemed almost hopeless.

After almost an hour of searching around, Rose and Emmett phoned Alice to tell her that they needed to head back home as they couldn't leave the newborn alone for too long. She was still in the house, that's what Alice could tell them, and so they stopped looking for their brother and ran in the direction of home.

It was already dark when they came back to the house, and there wasn't a single light switched on. Of course vampires didn't need light to see in the darkness, but they often liked to switch it on to make them seem more human in case someone drove by their house - and because it had just become a habit. It was cosy.

While they approached their home, they hoped Jasper was all right and that the others would be able to find him. Never before had anything like that happened to him - he was the most skilled vampire they knew, he was responsible and reliable, and he had complete control over his ability by now. Admittedly, it made them a little nervous to return home in case the girl would do something like that again - well, whatever it was she had done. But they really needed to find out what had happened to Jasper and, of course, explain to her that she might have done something to him she wasn't aware of.

They heard a weird sound when they entered the house. It was like blades being sharpened and then clattering, like they were falling to the floor or someone was throwing them.

Looking at each other questioningly for a second, they quickly headed for the kitchen then, and were completely unprepared for what they would find there.

Emmett's eyes bulged while Rosalie let out a silent gasp and they came to a sudden halt as soon as they saw her standing next to the counter with a big knife clutched in her right hand.

Maddie's left forearm was covered in metal dust, and right where her veins were, they could see straight lines carved into the silver dust particles.

She looked up at them with angry eyes, the red colour of her irises seemed to burn bright in the dim light that was coming from the open flame of the gas stove.

The floor was covered in bent and broken kitchen knifes, and the kitchen block was almost empty.

"Please put that down, Tiny, come on," Emmett said in what he hoped was a calm and gentle voice. He took a step toward her, but the threatening growl that emerged from her throat kept him from moving any closer to her.

"What are you doing, Maddie, hm? Come, it's enough," Rose said softly as the girl reached behind herself and opened a drawer.

As she, too, took a step toward the girl, Maddie hissed menacingly and threw the useless knife to the floor before she reached into the drawer, grabbing the first thing her fingers touched.

It was a big meat fork, and as soon as Rose saw it, her face hardened.

"Put that away,_ now_," she said authoritatively and made to walk over to her to snatch it out of her hand, but Maddie bared her teeth and let out a sharp hiss.

"Don't come any closer or I'll stab you," she threatened.

"You cannot stab us," Emmett said, a pained expression on his face like he was sorry that she wouldn't be able to kill them. She was obviously suffering and he felt incredibly bad because of that, but he did not know how to help her right now as she didn't let them get any closer.

Her shoulders sagged a little and her eyes turned desperate and sad at the same time, and at that moment they could see that she was giving up.

"I know," she whispered defeatedly, before she jammed the huge fork into her right eye with all her might.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, next chapter should be up... tomorrow, I think. Yup.<strong>


	32. Chapter 32

A loud scream rang through the kitchen and Maddie dropped the bent fork, which clattered loudly as it hit the ground.

She was completely frustrated and angry and cursed the whole world for this.

Just like expected, her eye was still intact and she had barely felt anything. The fork, however, was nothing but a piece of bent metal now and the scream of frustration that had left her lips had not really helped her get rid of the tumultuous emotions that were still coursing through her.

"I told you to put it down," Rose said chidingly and kicked the useless fork out of the girl's reach so she wouldn't be able to pick it up again and do something similar as stupid. She really could have saved herself the frustration by not trying to shove a fork into her brain through the eye - there was no way it would kill her. Heck, she didn't even have a scratch.

Maddie breathed heavily as her mind raced for something different she could do, when she suddenly noticed a flickering light out of the corner of her eye.

She had turned on the flame on the stove to heat up a few knifes after she had realised that the sharp blades weren't able to penetrate her skin or even hurt her. Well, the heat hadn't helped either, but it had been worth a shot.

As quick as a flash, she reached out and held her hand into the blue flames waiting for the pain to begin, but delicate fingers curled around her wrist and yanked her hand away from the scorching flames that had started to lick at her cold, dead skin.

"Enough, stop that!" Rose yelled and gave her a smart rap over the knuckles. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Maddie hissed, because she had felt _that_, and then she pushed Rose away from herself, sending her crashing into Emmett.

"What else?!" Maddie yelled, "What else didn't you tell me, huh?!"

Emmett quickly steadied his wife, and together they took a step back to give the girl some space that would hopefully help her calm down again.

Rose held up a hand in a placating manner even though she wasn't sure if that gesture would really be able to make her less angry and agitated. "Sssh, calm down. What are you talking about?"

"You said you'd tell me everything, but you lied! _You lied!_" Maddie accused, and she seemed to be furious and confused and just thoroughly distressed.

Rose and Emmett exchanged a glance, because they had trouble understanding what she was talking about. They hadn't lied to her, or at least they didn't really know when they had done so and how she must have found out about it.

"What did Jasper say to you?" Emmett asked, hoping that he was the one who got the girl so upset and might have told her something that she had misunderstood. They could clear that up for her in the blink of an eye, they just needed to know what she was talking about.

"It's not about what he _said_, you fucker, it's about what he _did_!"

Emmett gulped, but luckily Maddie just went right on as she seemed desperate to get it off her chest... or just desperate to get answers. "I heard them talking outside, they said he can do things... with emotions. He can _change_ them!"

"That is his power," Rosalie told her matter-of-factly. This was an odd time to be talking about anyone's powers... but then again, maybe it was the perfect time considering that she had shown signs of having one herself.

"Power? You didn't tell me that that was possible!"

Rose spoke calmly in the hopes that the girl would listen to her that way and believe what she was saying as they were being completely honest with her just like they had been right from the beginning. "He is an empath. He is the only one we know who can do that. Jasper is a gifted vampire."

"You never told me that something like that existed," she replied, and if they didn't know any better, they would have thought they heard a sense of hurt in her voice.

They frowned at her.

"Tell you about gifted vampires?" Rose asked carefully while she blinked at her. Naturally they had trouble understanding what got her so riled up right now, but newborns were capricious and so it didn't always make sense what triggered their mood swings. Besides, they didn't want to tell her anything that wasn't true or say the wrong thing that would only serve to make her even more angry and confused. "Because you already know that. Alice told you that she has visions."

Her face scrunched up as she thought about whether it was her mistake or theirs.

No, she was convinced that no one would have figured that this was common for vampires - they should have told her that. She had thought that maybe Alice is just a freak, that didn't mean that everyone had to have some weird abilities.

"Alice is the only one who has visions," Emmett told her calmly. "She sees the future, that is her ability."

Maddie stood there stiff as a statue until she shifted from one foot to the other and took a deep breath that was supposed to help her stay calm. She couldn't let her anger distract her, or she might miss something they were telling her. This was important, she figured, very important, and she really wanted to understand. "Every ability is unique?" she asked hesitantly. What they had told her just now made her come to this conclusion... but she wasn't sure if she was right.

Rose gave her a little smile. She had noticed before that talking about something almost always calmed the girl as she was busy processing the information and thinking about it. "As far as we know, yes. They might be similar sometimes, but even that case is rare. We haven't met two of our kind with exactly the same gift that works in exactly the same way yet."

Maddie narrowed her eyes at them. "You're lying."

"Stop accusing us of lying, we are telling you what we know," Rose snapped. She was starting to lose patience, but immediately regretted not having kept an even temper while speaking to the girl. Maddie had no idea what was happening around her, the rest of the family was back which was really stressful for her and she still needed to learn so much about them and this secret world she had suddenly been forced to become a part of.

"The red-headed one, he is the same as that blonde jerk."

"Wh-?" Emmett blinked his eyes in confusion. "No, Eddie is not an empath. I think we would know if he were," he said and laughed a little. The thought alone was hilarious... Edward the little cry baby an empath... they would all be nervous wrecks by now if he would indeed have that ability.

"_He_ said, he had told you I was confused. How would he know, huh?"

Ah... now it made sense. It wasn't exactly the best timing to tell her about this, but sooner or later she would have found out anyways and then she would be raging mad that they hadn't told her right from the beginning. "First of all, you are young. Of course you are confused, everyone is after the transformation! And second of all, um... he is a mindreader."

Yep, Emmett had dropped the bomb on her and her reaction to that followed immediately.

Her eyes went impossibly wide and she took a step back, holding onto the counter with one hand to steady herself as the shock of that revelation washed over her. Rose made to walk over to her, but as soon as she lifted her foot off the ground to take a step, Maddie snapped her head up and growled furiously.

So Rose and Emmett stayed right where they were so she could calm herself, and after a minute or so it seemed to have worked.

"Can he...," she managed to ask, but couldn't speak any further as her head was spinning and she felt like throwing up.

"Humans and vampires, yes," Rosalie admitted in a soft voice. "He can read anyone's mind as long as the person is not too far away."

Yep, that made the situation worse for the girl.

"He doesn't always do it," Rose quickly added in an attempt to calm her. "He knows what privacy is and wants to grant others just that. But yes, he did perceive your thoughts when you were human and now as well. That's why we had sent all of them away."

Maddie slowly took a step back to get a little more distance between herself and them, but all the while her red eyes were fixed on them. "And you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

At that moment she felt scared and betrayed, that's what they could clearly hear in these two words she had spoken.

Admittedly, Rose was kind of relieved that she asked. Her answer would assure her and soothe her nerves - she was convinced that it would.

"We don't have any psychic abilities. Neither do Carlisle or Esme."

Luckily she seemed to relax a little and even nodded her head while she looked thoughtful for a moment. "So you didn't do anything with my head?" she queried, this time a little louder but still kind of wary and sceptical.

"No," Emmett said and chose this moment to laugh. It was more to ease the tension than out of amusement, but he felt that they needed something to help her get rid of the shock and her anger, so they could continue to talk and answer whatever questions she might have. And, of course, hint at the possibility that she might have some funny ability as well that she had no clue she possessed and therefore had no clue how to control. "No, we didn't do anything with your head and we would never do something like that. That's just creepy, isn't it?"

She drew a shaky breath and turned away from them. "I don't wanna stay here," she whispered while hugging herself.

With slow steps, Rosalie approached her after shaking Emmett's restraining hand off, and she was glad that the girl didn't growl or go into a defensive stance.

"We know how hard it can be, we have been living with them for a few decades now."

"I don't wanna stay here," Maddie said angrily and glowered at her.

"Well, the others are all outside looking for Jasper, so they won't come back anytime soon," Emmett remarked, trying to be helpful. Well, what else could they do? She needed to relax and they needed to keep her from panicking because otherwise they would end up like Jasper, who knew. And nobody wanted her to run away.

"I'm not going to stay here and wait until he comes back," she growled and stared right back into Emmett's eyes. The fire was back and the look in her eyes was murderous.

"Come," Rose said and carefully put an arm around the newborn's shoulders, while Emmett turned off the gas stove. She slowly led her upstairs to her and Emmett's room, then made her sit down on the bed.

As soon as they had entered the room, Maddie seemed to be more at ease again. They had noticed before that this was a place in the house where she didn't really feel the need to be overly cautious and it once again served to show them that she was starting to trust the two of them.

"What happened before he left today?" Rose queried and tilted her head to the side while waiting for an answer.

Maddie scowled at her. "I told you."

"Well, then tell me again."

She didn't really see the point in repeating everything, but eventually she gave in and said, "He was suddenly acting so weird... he looked at me with... I don't know... _dead_ eyes."

"Did he say something to you?"

Shaking her head, she answered, "No. It was like he was trying to look around but didn't really see anything, and then he jumped."

Rose sighed. They just had to tell her what they thought might have been the reason for his peculiar behaviour, but they really didn't know how she would react to the fact that there were still so many things she didn't know about herself. Too bad they couldn't even explain to her what exactly it was she must have done, as they were still clueless - if she had questions, they couldn't really be of any help now. "We want to be honest with you. It's possible that it was you."

Maddie frowned. "I didn't do anything."

"Maybe you didn't do it consciously, because you didn't know that-"

"No, I didn't do anything," she insisted and glared at her, immediately making Emmett tense up beside his wife.

After letting out an angry snort, Maddie narrowed her eyes at both of them. "He was being weird and then he left. Don't blame me for it," she snapped at Rosalie.

"I don't blame you, I just wanted to prepare you for the possibility that you might develop something that you aren't aware of."

Maybe it was her phrasing, because Maddie's jaw dropped and she looked nervous all of a sudden. "I'm sick?"

"God, no," Rose replied, "I'm talking about an ability."

"But I don't wanna be like _them_," she told them, saying the last word like it was nasty and foul-tasting.

"It's not like they are members of a secret club and you would be forced to join. Besides, we still don't know what's going on... we just wanted to inform you so you wouldn't be completely unprepared in case you might indeed be 'different'."

A low growl rumbled in the girl's chest. "That asshole did something to himself and now wants everyone to think it was me. _I didn't do anything_."

"I know."

It was silent for a few minutes, as neither spoke or even moved. Rose and Em didn't know what exactly was going round the girl's head at that moment, but they could clearly see that she was trying to think everything through.

"You smacked me on the hand," Maddie suddenly said and looked sideways at Rose while rubbing at the once smarting spot, even though there was no way she was still feeling it. "That hurt."

_Whoops_. Yes, before Rose knew what she was doing, she had already slapped the girl's hand. It must have been some kind of a reflex, as she had seen her holding her hand into the fire... fire was very dangerous for their kind and she couldn't just stand there and watch. "That's what you were trying to achieve by running blades over your forearm and holding your hand into a gas flame, am I right?" Rose asked and raised an eyebrow at her, like she hadn't been just as surprised about that slap as she was. "So I helped you with that."

Maddie bit her lip and pulled the left sleeve of her hoodie down to cover her arm.

"Would you tell us what that had been all about?"

No, she did not. Instead she wanted to get up and leave the room, but Rose held her back which made her growl at her.

"Stop growling at me, would you? I asked you a question."

A huff left Maddie's lips. "_He_ thinks I did something to the blonde one and now he wants to 'deal' with me."

"Wh-what?!" Emmett stammered and his jaw dropped. There was no way Carlisle could have possibly said that, he couldn't imagine that he would, no.

"There is nothing you can do to help me now, he said," Maddie replied and she even looked a little smug, because there really wasn't anything they could say to make his words seem like he had only her best interests at heart.

The silence that followed was supressing, and when she spoke again, her voice was icy. "I swear, before I let him come near me, I'd rather die."

It was very, _very_ unfortunate that she must have heard Carlisle and Esme talking after they had taken off in search for Jasper... and it was very unfortunate that they didn't know what exactly they had talked about and what Carlisle had meant by saying such things. They couldn't imagine that he would want to rip her apart or hurt her in any way, especially since she was still practically a baby and wasn't even aware of what she might have done.

"I'm sure you misunderstood-" "Fuck you, I _heard_ him!" she yelled at Rosalie and jumped up from the bed, then spun around to face them. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were narrowed and dark.

"I can guarantee you that he won't come near you because we won't let him, okay? You don't want to see him, so we will make sure that it won't happen."

"He said-" "I don't care what he said, Maddie," Rose interrupted her and she sounded serious enough that the girl immediately knew she really meant it.

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><p><strong>4 more chapters, guys :-) Thanks for reading!<strong>


	33. Chapter 33

It took Alice and Edward three full days to find Jasper. They had trouble picking up his trail as he wasn't able to think clearly and made no conscious decisions where he was going and why he was going there.

Maddie had told him to get lost, and so he did. Literally.

He was completely lost.

When they found him somewhere in the deep forests of Canada, still hectically running around, they needed to restrain him and calm him so he would understand that it was just them and that they were going to take him home now.

Esme was still outside searching the forests for her son like she had practically been doing non-stop ever since he had disappeared, when all of a sudden her phone rang. Tears welled up in her eyes because of the heavy relief she felt as she listened to Edward telling her that they had finally found Jasper.

But she started to feel uneasy when he said that the girl was able to mentally blind or numb their senses or something and create some kind of confusion of the mind. She had taken Jasper's sense of direction, and thereby made him feel completely lost as he did not recognise anything. He didn't recognise any smell markers, didn't even know where anything or anyone was. He even had trouble following them, so they both had to hold onto Jasper's arms while running, so he wouldn't get lost again even with them by his sides.

Edward told Esme to wait in the forest for them to return and to stay far away from the girl as he didn't want her in the house with that crazy newborn. What if she was able to cause this aberration on different levels and with various degrees of intensity? Maybe make them suffer amnesia so they wouldn't recognise their own family anymore? And what if she would refuse to remedy Jasper's condition? What if she couldn't? Or what if she would decide to make it even worse?

Naturally, Esme felt conflicted. She didn't want them to avoid the girl or make her leave, treat her like a threat or blame her for Jasper's condition. They needed to help her control her ability and she needed to be shown that they could be trusted so she wouldn't feel the need to do something like this again. She didn't have anyone left and ever since they had brought her here, she had become their responsibility. It was a simple as that. They had changed her and now she belonged with them, but killing her was not an option just because they _thought_ she _might_ be dangerous to them. Yes, Esme did have the feeling that Edward and Jasper might vote for that, but the rest of the family would surely disagree.

What would Rose and Emmett think and what would they do now? Esme felt that she needed to warn them, so they could explain to Maddie what she had done in case she had done it unconsciously. That was very likely for a newborn, and she just couldn't imagine that the girl was malicious and had planned on manipulating Jasper's mind like that.

Realising that she needed to act quickly, she ran home.

* * *

><p>Still being in this house after she had heard them talk about what might happen to her soon felt really weird... and really stupid. She did believe Rose when she said she wouldn't let anyone come near her, but Maddie figured that there wouldn't be much she could do when she wasn't home.<p>

Just like now.

Rosalie was leaving the house after telling her that Emmett was in the next room so she would know that she wasn't alone. Rose said she wouldn't be long, but there was something urgent she had to take care of.

As soon as Maddie heard the engine of Rose's car being fired up, she stood by the window and watched the car roll down the driveway and head down the long path that would probably lead to the next town.

Well, technically she wasn't alone, but still she felt quite forlorn and insecure at that moment. A few days had passed since the weird incident with Jasper, and she was sure that they were still blaming her for it and sooner or later they would come back. She was okay with getting kicked out, but she was not okay with them hurting her. Especially when she hadn't done anything. Besides,_ if_ she had done something to that jerk, then it was their fault because they had changed her into this freak. _Assholes._

But now she suddenly felt all the horrors and all the memories of her transformation coming back to torture her.

She curled up on the floor, holding her head as though it would help make these thoughts go away. And it was in hopes so that she could shield her thoughts from the mindreader in case he was nearby. Nothing was sacred to these bastards.

_He_ had bitten her, infected her with his venom that was now inside of her, flowing through her body… the other one had played her like a puppet, altered her emotions whenever he felt like it and as often as he wanted. Alice had doomed her to this life, because her visions were the reason why she was here, why she wasn't really dead like she was supposed to be. Esme had lied to her, tried to make her believe that they were nice people and that she might be safe here – nothing but lies.

And then there was _Edward_, who had invaded her mind - the part of her that was absolutely private and that was supposed to be only hers. Hers and hers alone. He had no right to listen to what she was thinking and look into her mind to see what only she had seen – her memories, her wishes, her fears. Everything.

She truly felt like they had reduced her to nothing just because they could. She didn't see any good reason why they had brought her here, and she couldn't see any good reason why they would want her to feel worthless and without any rights at all. Completely exposed, vulnerable and helpless.

* * *

><p>"Maddie?" Rose called before wrenching the door to her room open.<p>

Maddie whipped her head around and her wild, red eyes focussed on her. She was surprised that Rose was back already - she really hadn't been gone for long and she must have missed the sound of a car pull up.

"There you are," Rosalie said with a sigh which made her sound almost relieved before she stalked towards her. Maddie perceived the smell of leather from the car seats, and she could also smell the snow on her which was oddly calming.

"We're leaving," she told the girl.

"Huh?"

"Hurry. Is there anything you would like to bring? Clothes or anything else?"

Maddie did not understand what she meant and so she just sat there on the floor, frowning at her.

Rosalie walked past her without waiting for an answer and grabbed a bag from the closet before carelessly stuffing some clothes in.

She zipped up the bag, spun around and motioned with her hand for her to follow her as she walked back to the door.

"All right. Come," she urged, and as soon as Maddie had gotten up and made her way over to her, Rose guided her down to the garage.

Emmett stood right next to Rose's car holding the right rear door and looking like he had been waiting impatiently for them because they couldn't waste any time.

They had gotten a call from Edward, and it sounded like he thought the girl was a threat and dangerous... and as soon as Jasper would be all right again, he might see it the same way.

But Maddie didn't even want to stay and before she would run away, they would make sure to offer her a decent alternative. Everything had happened so fast, but now that they were about to leave, they were sure that it would work out the way they had planned before anyone would come home and be able to stop them. Esme was outside searching for Jasper, and Alice and Edward were still somewhere in Canada. Carlisle was at work, probably still completely oblivious to the fact that they had found Jasper and were trying to bring him home.

"Okay, you two go sit in the back, I'll drive," Rose said, threw the bag in the trunk and slammed it shut before she got into the driver's seat.

"_Now!_" she called over her shoulder when she saw Emmett holding the door for Maddie, who just didn't make any move to get in.

"What's going on?" she asked nervously, her eyes darkening with every word.

"We'll explain in the car, come."

Another moment passed as Maddie was still wary, but then she lowered herself into the backseat of the car. Emmett got in after her and waved her closer so she would sit in the middle right next to him.

Rosalie hit down on the gas pedal and sped out of the garage like she wanted to win a race. In the rear view mirror she was able to see Carlisle's car which was a total loss and that he still hadn't found out about before the garage door slowly closed again. He probably wouldn't have let them stay with the girl again after the situation with Jasper and _that_.

"Maddie," she said and looked at her over her shoulder. "Don't breathe. I have switched off the ventilation, but it is still safer if you don't breathe. Understood?"

"Where are we going?" she queried while glancing around, scanning the road, the forest and the snow covered mountains outside for a hint of what was happening. She had hunted the day before, why were they taking her again? And since when did they take a car for that? ... and extra clothes?

Rose chased the car to go faster until she turned onto the main road where she obviously had to obey the traffic laws as she was driving slower now. Looking out of the window, Maddie could see that they were about to pass several little shops and a kindergarten.

It was the first time in what felt like several months that Maddie saw people except for this family again, and her red eyes focussed on every single face and the light blue veins that were shining through their paper-thin skins.

Rosalie thanked her lucky stars that it was March and still cold enough that people would wear scarfes and high collar jackets to protect themselves from the icy wind. It would keep their pulsing carotids hidden from Maddie's sharp newborn vision and her heavy bloodlust that might kick in immediately when she would see the warm blood flowing through their bodies and breathe in their mouthwatering scents. Still, she noticed the girl looking around and so she decided to drive faster again.

They were speeding again, and suddenly Maddie's eyes fell on a young mother who was pushing a baby buggy in front of herself.

Of course she remembered that they had told her not to breathe, but seeing one's main prey strutting around looking all yummy and nourishing, the instinct of wanting to smell the delicious aroma of the blood and the human's fear kicked in and she was about to take a breath.

Emmett slung his arms around her - one around her front, pinning her arms to her sides, while the other one was around her shoulders with his hand firmly pressed over her mouth and nose.

Maddie's eyes widened and she started to squirm instantly due to being physically restrained.

"Don't breathe," he urged and continued to hold her in place. "I'll let you go in a moment, I promise, but you cannot breathe."

Finally understanding why he was doing this and that she had been about to let her instincts take over before he had effectively distracted her by restraining her, she stopped struggling and nodded.

Rose hit down on the gas pedal going already well beyond the speed limit, and they left the little town a few moments later and were now on a highway that was leading further up Alaska.

_So the worst is over now_, Rose thought, and right at that moment her phone rang.

It was already on speaker when she answered.

"_Rosalie? Rosalie! Where is she? What are you doing?_" It was Esme, and she sounded absolutely frantic.

"She is with us."

"_Where are you?_"

But Rose did not answer immediately. Instead her eyes narrowed while she kept them fixed on the road.

"We're taking her somewhere safe, Esme," she eventually said.

"_Turn around, Rosalie._"

"I don't think so."

They could hear Esme draw a shaky breath, and then she said calmly, "_Please, just turn around. Let's talk about this, all right? Turn around._"

"No."

Esme's voice took on a hint of panic and she begged urgently, "_Rosalie, stop! You cannot do this, she is just a child! Please bring her back!_"

"No," Rosalie said, keeping her voice completely free of emotion while she put her finger on the button that would end the phone conversation.

"_Ro-_" Esme started again, this time full out sobbing.

So Rosalie hung up. This was not in the least bit helpful, especially when the girl was sitting in the car and had been able to hear everything. Apparently Esme thought they were trying to get rid of her or finish her off, but she really did not care about that at the moment. They couldn't have anyone interfere and so keeping them in the dark about where they were going seemed like a good idea.

The phone rang again after several seconds, so Rosalie decided to just switch it off.

It was uncomfortably silent in the car and Maddie's eyes darted around as she looked in between Rose and Emmett, until Em slowly took his hand away from her mouth and loosened the embrace a little.

"Wh-" she started to ask, but Emmett's phone rang at that moment.

He fished it from the pocket of his jeans and glanced at the caller ID before he figured it would be wise to reject his mother's call just like Rose had done. She tried calling him twice more after that, and every time he just pressed the red button on his mobile.

For a few minutes it was quiet in the car, and Maddie was busy thinking about what was going on. They couldn't die and she did not have the feeling that they were going to hurt her, so that meant they were trying to help her. Either hide her or let her go... but it would be a safe place, Rose had said.

Emmett's phone rang again and his eyes widened when he looked down at the little display. "Rose-"

"Just switch it off, the constant bleeping is driving me insane," Rosalie told him with a groan and turned the radio on.

"It's Carlisle," he informed her. He wasn't sure what to do... he wanted to reject his call, but wasn't sure if it would be wise to do so. Carlisle was their coven leader, after all.

"Don't answer."

"But-" "I don't care," she growled.

He hesitated for another second because he knew that they were doing the right thing but at the same time his conscience pricked him. Muttering a quick 'Sorry' under his breath, he switched his phone off and thereby made it impossible for the rest of the family to reach them.

* * *

><p><strong>Yup, I know... I wanted to finish the story this month, but I won't be home this weekend because I'm going to a music festival and I won't have a computer, so there is no way I'll be able to post anything :- Oh well, that's not the end of the world. Thanks for reading guys!**


	34. Chapter 34

Several hours later they reached a huge residence in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like they hadn't encountered any signs of civilisation in over an hour and Maddie had started to wonder if they were heading for the North pole. But now that Rosalie slowed down, she realised that they must have reached their destination.

The house was up in the mountains, it looked friendly and inviting with its nice driveway and the many windows and except for the garage and the chimney it was entirely made out of wood, even though Maddie wasn't sure if it really was. Nevertheless, it was very big and very beautiful, and she immediately wondered how many people lived here and what they were like.

Rose stopped the car in the driveway, then put it in park and turned the key in the ignition to kill the engine. Quickly she unfastened her seatbelt before turning around to look at Maddie. "We're there," she said softly.

"What is this place?" Maddie asked and at the same time the front door of the house opened. A blond woman, followed by another one, emerged and walked gracefully towards the car. Their hair had the same shade of light blonde, but the first one had slightly curly hair, long and wavy, while the other one had her long, straight hair in a high pony tail. Judging by the looks on their faces they did not seem malicious or angry or even remotely mean.

And their eyes were golden, just like the Cullen's were.

So Maddie was the only freak here, obviously.

"Who are they?"

Rosalie reached out and placed a hand on hers. It startled the girl as she had still been watching the women, and when she gasped, Rose quickly pulled her hand away again while Emmett grabbed her by the upper arm so she wouldn't be able to hurt his wife. When Rose was sure that the newborn wasn't going to attack them because she had figured out what had startled her, Rose reached out once more and covered Maddie's hand with hers, rubbing it gently. "These are very close friends of ours. We would like you to meet them." Naturally they were more like family than just friends, but Rose figured it would be better not to mention that for a little while.

The girl glanced back out of the window to see the two young women smile at them.

"You will be staying here for a while, little one," Emmett added, which made Rosalie scowl at him and Maddie gasp again.

"But I don't know them!"

"It's okay, you'll meet them now," he told her.

"If you leave me here, I'll run away," Maddie threatened. And then she frowned, surprised and confused by what she had just said.

During the drive she had been sure they would either hide her or let her go, and she had been okay with that. But now she started to feel... uneasy? She preferred to be alone instead of staying with the ones who had hurt her and treated her like dirt... but if she was given a choice, she did not really want to be all alone and Rose and Em were kinda nice. She didn't know where to go as she didn't have a home and no money... she had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.

No, she could be on her own if she really needed to. She was capable of taking care of herself and that's what she would do if they really left her here with complete strangers that most likely could not be trusted.

"No, you won't," Rose replied and it sounded like there was a hint of a threat in her tone as well.

"If you don't like them and -" Em said quickly, realising that it was still a little too early to tell her she would be living here from now on, but he got immediately interrupted by Maddie.

"I don't like them," she stated and glanced at the young women standing in the middle of their driveway before she looked back at Emmett.

He chuckled. "Nuh-uh, you haven't talk to them yet, so that doesn't count."

"Ever heard of first impression?"

"Yes, but that doesn't count!" he countered.

"Of course it does!"

"No!"

"But-"

"Are you done, you two? You are being ridiculous," Rose hissed. It was getting a little embarrassing to have them bickering on the back seat while their relatives were standing there, waiting and watching.

"You are being ridiculous!" Maddie retorted loudly. "Do you really expect me to-"

And Emmett decided it was his turn again. "As I was saying earlier before I was so rudely interrupted: If you really don't like them and feel uncomfortable, you can come with us again. Okay?"

Maddie glared at Rose who looked right back at her with an unfazed facial expression, but then the girl slowly started to nod her head even though she really didn't want to go back there. She was finally away from that house, and she wasn't planning on ever going near it again.

They got out, but Emmett kept his hands around Maddie's upper arms while he stood behind her to make sure she wouldn't act like a crazy newborn and try to attack these two unknown vampires in front of her.

"Rosalie, you drive quicker than I thought!" the woman with the wavy hair said laughing and hugged Rose.

"Tanya, it is so good to see you. Is this a bad time, are we too early?"

"No, no," Tanya replied and waved one of her hands dismissively while her other one was still resting on Rose's upper arm. "I was just surprised. You know you are always welcome and there is no such thing as a bad time when you are coming over. Now... where is the girl you have been telling me about?"

She looked around and smiled when her eyes met Maddie's.

"Hi Maddie! I'm Tanya, and this is my sister Kate. We were looking forward to meeting you," she said and gave her a big smile that seemed... honest.

Huh.

Maddie was wary. There was something strangely familiar about Tanya that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Hi," she said quietly and lifted one hand in greeting while she looked in between Tanya and her sister Kate, who had just given Rose a hug.

"Hello and welcome!" Kate exclaimed cheerfully, but then she tzked and shook her head before she walked up to them. "Emmett, let go of her. I'm sure the girl can stand on her own without your help," she chided, then pulled him in for a hug which made him let go of Maddie who immediately took a step back to lean against Rose's car.

"Careful, Em," Kate wheezed as he slung his arms around her, lifted her off the ground and squeezed.

He just laughed and hugged her even tighter.

Maddie's emotions were a little conflicting at the moment and she tried to push them away. These women seemed nice and not like a threat, but still, she felt wary and like she needed to be careful. She knew that didn't make sense as there was really nothing threatening about them, and so she had to concentrate on trying to convince her newborn instincts that she was not in any kind of danger.

With darkened eyes she looked around, scanned the surrounding to make sure she knew where to go in case she needed to run, and she slid along the side of the car to get a little more distance between herself and Kate, who stood a little too close for her liking.

She breathed in and out to calm her nerves and with every breath she took, she could smell them and memorise their scents.

"Would you like for me to show you around?" Tanya suddenly asked as she had noticed the girl turn her head to look at the mountain range and the forest.

Maddie just stared at her.

"Come, I won't bite," she promised in a kind voice and stepped closer to her.

But all Maddie did was growl lowly - she really didn't like her wording.

"Shush, no growling," Rose admonished and shook her head at her, and the growl died in Maddie's throat.

"Aw, it's okay. I tend to be clumsy with words sometimes," Tanya apologised and a hint of embarrassment shone in her bright golden eyes. "How about a short run? I know that sitting in a car for that long must make your muscles feel a little stiff, hm?"

And the girl shook her head. She would not let her distract her so that Emmett and Rose could take off and leave her here with them.

"Oh, maybe later. Let me show you the house then," she suggested and held her hand out for Maddie to take. "Come."

Maddie eyed Tanya's hand before she glanced at Rose, looking unsure.

Rosalie was watching her over the roof of her car, and then gave her a tiny smile and nodded her head.

Okay... so Tanya wouldn't hurt her or anything. But Maddie was still nervous about them just leaving and then she would be stuck here, all alone with a bunch of strangers.

"We'll follow you in a moment," Rose added, like she must have known what kept the girl glued to the spot.

So Maddie slowly pushed her right sleeve up a bit, then tentatively took a few steps and put her hand in Tanya's before letting her guide her into the house.

"Wow, that was easier than I thought," Emmett whispered to Rose, who had stepped over to him and Kate to talk. Seeing that Maddie would willingly follow Tanya into a house she did not know and even let her take her by the hand was actually a good sign that this might work.

"You shouldn't have told her about leaving her here. She needs to get to know them first, Emmett."

"I know, but look what just happened. One minute she is all 'Hell, no, I won't stay here' and now Tanya is giving her a tour of their home. That's perfect, Rose! Even though I don't really understand why Maddie agreed..."

"I don't know, maybe it's because Tanya did not abduct her," Rose muttered, making Kate give her a sad smile.

"You cannot change the past, Rosalie," Kate said softly while looking her in the eye. "Don't nurse a grudge against your family when they had their best intentions in mind. Decisions aren't always easy, and even though it sometimes takes a while to see it, I'm sure everything is going to be all right."

"If you say so."

Kate nodded her head, but then bit her lip like something was making her feel kinda uneasy. "Rose... do you think it's safe for them to be alone in the house without anyone else present? The girl is still awfully young and I don't want my sister or her to get hurt."

Yes, this really seemed to be new for them. Probably the only newborn they had raised was Irina, and she had been already a young woman and was able to have the human blood she craved. Kate herself was gifted, and now she felt a little embarrassed that she hadn't asked to show the newborn around. They were all skilled fighters with more than enough experience, but with her ability she managed to bring someone under control without actually having to fight and therefore could minimise her own as well as the other person's risk of losing limbs.

"She's not an aggressive newborn if that's what you are concerned about. As long as you don't startle her, she won't feel the need to defend herself. Besides, I don't think that she'll be so extremely nervous and on edge like she had been at our house, so you have nothing to fear."

Now Kate sighed, before she crossed her arms and leaned against the side of the car. "You know, I have a good feeling about this."

* * *

><p>"... and this is your room," Tanya said and opened a light brown, wooden door on the second floor to reveal their large guest room that would be Maddie's from now on. If she would want to stay, of course.<p>

Maddie immediately took a step back and blinked at her. "_Mine?_"

"Sure," the blonde woman replied and nodded encouragingly. "Go on in, take a look around."

She did so, and a little smile played around her lips that she wasn't able to contain. But it faltered a moment later and she started to frown.

"What is it?"

"You don't know me," Maddie stated.

"That's true, we haven't met before."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you do this?"

"Oh honey, I see they have done a lousy job explaining, haven't they?" she asked, then tzked and groaned like she couldn't believe that they hadn't told her everything she needed to know.

Maddie started to smirked a little. She hadn't expected her to react like that, but she liked how she criticised the others because it showed her that apparently she also wasn't okay with what they had done.

Tanya motioned towards the queen bed that was covered with a white quilt and entered the room. "Sit down and I will explain to you. I will answer all your questions, so don't hesitate to ask whatever you need or want to know."

Maddie nodded, then sat at the end of the bed while Tanya climbed on top of it and sat right in the middle, crossing her legs.

"Don't be shy. This is your bed, so make yourself comfortable," Tanya remarked with a little laugh that served to calm Maddie before she even had the chance to get mad.

It was really weird how sure Tanya sounded that she would be staying with them, and it was weird that they had a bed for her despite the fact that they did not sleep. It had been almost two months since she had been changed into this, and she was dead certain that she wouldn't need a stupid bed. But Tanya's light-hearted laugh showed Maddie that she was comfortable around her even though Maddie had understood by now that apparently she was dangerous to others. So could she really be mad at someone who obviously did not care about that? It was like Tanya trusted her not to hurt her without even knowing her, and that made her actually quite likeable. She was just like Rose and Em - no wonder they were friends.

"Sooo... where do I begin?" Tanya asked, pursed her lips and hummed while she thought about it.

"Oh, yes!" she suddenly exclaimed before looking right at Maddie. "_You_."

Maddie cocked an eyebrow before she slowly scooted back a little and pulled her legs up on the bed to hug her knees to herself. She was curious what they had told Tanya about her, and being comfortable couldn't hurt while she would listen.

"See, I didn't know anything about you until maybe two weeks ago. That was when Carlisle briefed me about what had taken place."

Maddie's eyes darkened at the mention of his name, and naturally Tanya did not miss it.

"Yes, I know," she muttered and gave her a look of commiseration. "I would have never expected him to do something like that, but yet: _Here you are!_" she added the last part in a sing-song voice, effectively lighting up the atmosphere that way to make the difficult topic easier to talk about for the girl.

Maddie tilted her head to the side and waited for her to go on.

"You don't like him, do you?"

And she shook her head.

"Hate him?"

Maddie affirmed by nodding her head and clenching her jaw.

"Really hate him?"

She didn't stop nodding her head.

"Hate him like poison?"

And she was still nodding, but she unclenched her jaw again and even seemed a little amused about the way Tanya asked.

A sigh escaped the blonde woman. "And I can understand that. They haven't explained anything to you, have they? Ugh, and then they expect you to get used to it. It's even harder when there are Jasper, Alice and Edward with their gifts. It's no fun what they did, even though they meant well."

Maddie looked down at her hands. She still didn't get how in the hell they had meant well by invading her privacy and changing what she was feeling.

"Don't worry," Tanya said, and the lightness was back in her voice. "We don't have any psychic abilities to spy on your or manipulate you."

Immediately Maddie's head snapped up and she stared at her with big eyes. "So you wouldn't do anything with my head?" she asked, sounding almost incredulous.

That was obviously a very odd question, because Tanya started to frown. "Like what?" She really hoped they hadn't ripped her head off just because she had thought bad of them or the like.

"Like peek into my head."

_Phew._

Shaking her head, Tanya replied, "No, of course not! I'm not able to do that and I really don't think it would be right. Your thoughts are private and should stay private if you don't feel like sharing them."

They didn't have any abilities like the other ones had and they thought it was wrong to treat her like that. It felt good to know, and Maddie bit her lip and nodded, then looked thoughtfully down at the soft, white rug lying next to the bed. She did not think that she would want to share her thoughts with anyone of them, but Tanya seemed like a person who would accept that.

Seeing her nod her head made Tanya internally sigh with relief. She knew how hard it was to trust strangers and so she was glad that the girl had caught the honesty within her words. It would break her heart if she would fail to help the girl and Rose and Emmett would end up taking her back to the part of the family she absolutely loathed. That's not how life should be, especially not for someone who had just changed into one of their kind. It was just too early for her to really understand what had happened and what decisions they had made concerning her. She'd listen and understand when she would be a little older, but right now they did not see it happen. The girl would just continue to hate them all. "Rose called two days ago and asked if we wanted to keep you."

That was when Maddie's head shot back up, her eyes wide, and Tanya suddenly started laughing.

"Just joking, you're not a pet, little one. Well, she said you don't feel comfortable staying with them, and before you run away, be all alone and no one knows where you are, she asked if we could take care of you. And today she called again and said it couldn't wait any longer. She was really worried about you."

A hint of confusion as well as sadness crept into Maddie's eyes. It was still weird that these complete strangers would willingly take someone in they did not know, especially when that someone was 'dangerous'. And it was making her sad that apparently Rose and Em wanted to get rid of her... but at least they had chosen to ask their friends for help and not someone they didn't like.

Sensing that the girl was still not really digging the idea of staying here with people she did not know, Tanya decided to point out the most obvious fact again. "And we agreed, of course!"

It was extremely exciting for them to have this little challenge. When you have lived for as long as they have, life tended to seem even more like a routine. Their coven hadn't changed in over a century, no new members, but also no one leaving. It was comforting to know that there wasn't much that changed, but it's also a little dull at times.

Now Rose had asked a favour of them, and they had agreed immediately as they wanted to help their relatives. Besides, a young, innocent newborn shouldn't suffer and they had the time, the room and the patience to help the child through this difficult time and show her how peaceful living in a coven could be.

"Could you imagine staying with us for a while?" Tanya asked softly.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Maddie mumbled, "I don't know."

"You're right, my question is a little stupid. You haven't even met the others yet! So we'll wait for them to come home, then you can meet them and make a decision. No rush. We could even try it out for a couple of days. It's up to you."

Maddie nodded, but did not look at her. Instead she focussed on the quilt and the way it felt underneath her fingertips as she ran them over the white fabric.

It was quiet in the room for a little while, and so Tanya decided to start a light conversation. "Have you tried bear before? We have very big ones running around in this area."

"I've had a black bear once," Maddie told her and Tanya looked at her incredulously.

"Only once? What else did you have during the last two months?"

"_Moose_," Maddie replied with next to no enthusiasm in her voice, which made Tanya laugh out loud.

Maddie's lips twitched a little and her eyes showed amusement. Maybe Tanya didn't like moose either, she figured.

"You're not a big fan of moose, am I right?" the blonde woman asked and scrunched up her nose before adding in a whisper, "They don't smell too good."

"They _stink._ And they taste even worse than they smell."

"You'll get used to it."

Maddie shook her head - she was certain that that would never happen. And the look in her eyes told Tanya that she really wasn't interested in trying to get used to the taste of moose blood.

"I don't like hare, and so I don't hunt them," she told her and shrugged her shoulders. "I just keep going until I can have something different that doesn't taste or smell bad. It's not like we don't have time, right? And Denali has a lot of wildlife to offer, so you can always choose what you'd like to feed on. That's why we chose this place to settle down. Clever, huh?"

That did make sense. And it actually sounded quite nice being able to choose what she wanted to drain to satiate her thirst and not having to feed on the first animal they saw.

"And believe me, you'll like our grizzlies a lot more than moose," Tanya promised with a wink.

"Emmett likes grizzly," Maddie replied softly and looked up at Tanya.

Tanya smirked. "And do you know why?"

"He's got mauled by one in..." Maddie scrunched up her face in thought, "... 1935?"

"That's right."

She distorted her mouth a little and asked, "He's old, isn't he?"

"I'll tell you a secret, but psssht!" Tanya said, then looked around before she bent forward a little and whispered into Maddie's ear, "I am over a thousand years old."

Maddie's jaw dropped and she leaned back to gape at her. "No way!"

"But I am! Just like Kate and Irina, but I think I look best for my age, wouldn't you agree?" she asked the last part in a mock snobbish way and pretended to fix her hair.

That made Maddie smile. Now she knew why she had been okay with Tanya showing her around – she reminded her of her aunt. Funny, clever, and they even looked similar.

"Who's Irina?" she suddenly asked, because she hadn't heard that name before.

"Well, I have two younger sisters. You have met Kate already, Irina will come home some time later. She's... busy right now," she said, purposely keeping the information vague.

The house seemed too big for just three people and Maddie remembered that she had used the term 'the others' before. "Who else lives here?"

"Carmen and Eleazar. You'll like them a lot, and - _Speak of the devil._" Tanya jumped up from the bed and looked towards the door just before a man and a woman, both with very dark hair and an olive hint to their pale complexion, entered the room carrying bags.

"I didn't know they would arrive that early. We would have hurried had we known, but still... Carmen wanted to get decoration for our young guest," the guy with a heavy Spanish accent said. He looked up after having placed the bags on the floor, and he smiled when their eyes met.

"Hello, niña, I'm Eleazar. You must be Maddie, am I right?" he said casually and after a second of hesitation offered his hand for her to shake.

She looked him in the eye for a moment as if searching for something, then pulled the sleeve up that was covering her right arm and reached out to shake hands with him. "Hello," she said softly and then drew back again.

"I am Carmen, his wife. Thank you for introducing me, darling." She playfully nudged him in the ribs with her elbow before holding out her hand for Maddie to shake. She actually would have just hugged the girl, but with Maddie being a newborn made it difficult for now. As soon as they would get to know each other a little better, she had no doubt in her mind that the girl would allow that type of physical contact. Everybody needed a hug from time to time.

"Nice to meet you," Maddie replied and shook her hand.

"Uh, careful, sweetheart," Carmen said and pulled her hand from Maddie's, then tried to shake the pain out of it. "I'm sure Emmett can take a hearty handshake, but you are just a little too strong for me at the moment."

Biting her lip, Maddie pulled at her sleeves while she watched Eleazar taking his wife's hand in his and examining it, before placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand and smiling at her.

The dark-haired woman laughed, then turned her attention back to the newborn girl. "We weren't sure what you might need, so we got you some games and books... and, hm, what else? Oh yes, we got some samples for wallpaper. We could look through them at a later time so you can choose what you'd like for your room."

Maddie looked at her with big eyes, before she directed her gaze to Tanya.

"Told you we were excited to meet you."

Maddie looked back at Carmen and slowly nodded her head, answering her offer that way. It really was weird that all of them thought she would live with them just like that. And it was weird that apparently she had hurt her, but no one was getting mad at her. It hadn't been her intention to make the handshake painful for Carmen, but how would they know?

"Wonderful!" Carmen smiled and clapped her hands together, then turned towards Tanya. "Have you shown her around yet?"

"Of course, it took you a million years to come back here. We had to busy ourselves with _something_ before dying of boredom, you know."

Maddie smirked. Tanya was fun.

And while Carmen stood there rolling her eyes at Tanya, they could hear quick, heavy footsteps boom up the stairs.

"Woah, Tiny! We need to go hunting! They really have the best bears around here," Emmett called and peeked into the room.

"We hunted yesterday," she replied.

He looked at her like he thought she was stupid. "So?"

"Just saying." She shrugged her shoulders, then climbed off the bed and walked towards him.

"I can teach you how to tackle a bear... and make it look smooth." He had a big grin on his face and moved his hand sideways to underline the word 'smooth'.

"_Smooth_," she scoffed. "Some bears are huge, aren't they? And they are strong."

"But they aren't as strong as we are."

Hm. "What kind of bears do you wanna hunt?"

"Grizzly. We'll go for grizzly."

"But... what about black bears?" She squinted up at him.

He snorted, because whenever he would be able to choose between these two types of bear, he would always pick grizzly. "They are for babies... and Rose," he whispered the last part, which made Maddie smile and a short sound that vaguely resembled a laugh escaped her lips.

"Let me tell you, Mad: Once you go grizzly, you never go back."

"Uh-huh," she muttered before she looked over her shoulder at Tanya. "Which one do you like better?"

Emmett's eyes widened at hearing that she would so openly start a conversation with someone she had just met. It was peculiar how the newborn already seemed to be more at ease here than back home, but he was glad that their plan seemed to work.

"Hm... grizzlies are more fun to play with, but black bears have a finer taste."

"Um, have not?" Emmett said and gave her a weird look. "Grizzly is the best there is."

"Grizzlies have a stronger flavour, which is much more alluring and satiating than black bear," Eleazar chimed in, totally and whole-heartedly agreeing with Emmett.

"That must be a guy thing," Tanya said and rolled her eyes. "I think their taste buds are -"

"_We can hear you!_"

Maddie bit her lip and her face showed that she was amused as well as relaxed at the moment. But it quickly changed when her eyes suddenly widened and a gasp escaped her before she looked up at Emmett. "Where's Rose?"

He chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tiny, she is downstairs with Kate. You can find them in the living room," he told her.

"No, it's okay." Her expression softened again. She still wasn't sure what she should choose, and so it wouldn't be fair if Rose would just take off. But then again, Em was still here and she doubted that Rose would abandon her own husband like that.

"Okay... how about you try your first delicious grizzly now and see for yourself what tastes better?"

"They really taste good? You're not trying to trick me?" she asked carefully.

But Emmett shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it, but if you are afraid of a big, ol' grizzly – fine. Come to think of it, you might not even be able to finish one, Tiny. Heck, you even struggle with a little cow moose." He snorted.

"I can finish it," she argued. And she could even finish a stupid moose - if she wanted to.

He let out a snort and waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, a little snowshoe hare is more than enough for you. But aaah, I'll treat myself to a real feast today, yup. Hmmm, I can already taste the grizzly blood... triple times as good as black bear, hot and fresh and sooo good..."

Maddie felt venom pool in her mouth from Emmett's description, and she quickly swallowed it down. "I bet I can finish it," she said hastily, "and I'll be even quicker than you are."

"Oooh... are you challenging me to a grizzly draining contest?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a crooked smile. "I _never_ lose."

"We'll see," she whispered and smirked up at him.

* * *

><p><strong>I read somewhere that Em got mauled by a black bear... but I liked grizzly better as they are supposed to be bigger, stronger and more aggressive, so I changed that little fact to suit my story. I'm sure Em doesn't mind :D<br>**

**Thanks for reading everyone and sorry for the delay!**


	35. Chapter 35

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes, I am," Rose replied confidently and nodded her head... but the look in her eyes betrayed her. When she saw that Kate had noticed, she rubbed a hand over her face and let out a groan while her cousin put an arm around her to give her shoulder a comforting rub. "We don't have much of a choice, now do we?" she whispered. "But I am sure that she will be comfortable staying with you and so I think it's worth a try. I really don't want to take her back home again."

"Have you considered living with her for a while, just the three of you? I'm not sure if it seems wise to force this separation on her when she has grown acquainted to you."

Rose let her hand drop back to her lap and turned her head to look at Kate. "Of course we thought about it. But Emmett and I figured that it would be beneficial if she had complete separation so she can concentrate on controlling her instincts and her bloodlust. We would always remind her of the change and the rest of the family, so I think it's better to have her living with you as you are a completely neutral party for her. Besides, we have already spent a few weeks with her without the family, but the problem was that I had told her they wouldn't come back as long as I wouldn't call them... and then they returned home anyways and Jasper just showed up in her room."

Kate distorted her mouth, seeing that that must have been quite the step backwards in getting the girl to stay with them.

"She cannot feel completely safe with us, but I'm sure she could with you. She doesn't hate you or blames you for what happened," Rosalie added.

Kate understood, but still wasn't convinced if this really was the best for the girl. She seemed to trust Rose and Emmett, and leaving her here with complete strangers might make her feel betrayed and unwanted. "Yes, but-"

"We are not interested in establishing a new coven," Rosalie interrupted her cousin. "We feel safe with Carlisle being our leader, and with every additional member to our family I have seen the advantages of a larger coven. But she doesn't seem like she is able to see it the same way with the others, not yet, and therefore you are our best option. She doesn't bear grudges against you and you invite her to stay here if she wants to. That is sending positive signals and I am sure she feels that you don't mean her any harm."

"And what about you?"

"We are moving to Washington in a few months, Esme has found the house decades ago. The problem is that we will be living a lot closer to humans than we do here in Alaska and I think it's too early for her. Besides, if we want to maintain the cover that has practically never failed us, we need to be able to go to school and leave her home alone... with Esme."

"You don't see that happen?"

"No, not in a few months. She refuses to stay as long as they are around. Believe me, I have thought a lot about this, every single day I played through all the possibilities in my mind and Em and I came to the conclusion that she needs to make the decision. It's her choice now. We wanted to give her as many options as possible, and this would be by far the best. I hope she'll realise it and see things the same way."

When Kate started to nod her head thoughtfully, Rose added, "She needs to be able to take her time to think things through and ask questions. It was just a little too much at a time when we tried explaining something."

"You know you are always welcome to stay with us for a while," Kate reminded her, as she realised that this would be the best option, at least for a few weeks to help the newborn settle in.

"We can't right now. We have responsibilities concerning our coven and it cannot wait... we do have some explaining to do and I don't think Carlisle would be all right with a simple phone call. And I think a quicker departure might make her warm up to you quicker. I mean, we just came here and already she seems so much calmer than back home." Then she let out a deep sigh. "But if you wouldn't mind we'd come visit before the move."

"That's a great idea, I'm sure she'd like that," Kate agreed before a mock stern expression appeared on her pale face. "But don't you just stay for a day or two, cousin."

Rose gave her a little smile. "Yes... but well, first we need to see if she is willing to stay here."

The two blonde women looked up from the couch when they heard footsteps coming from the upper floor and heading down the stairs.

"Boys always take the longest when you want to go hunting...," Tanya muttered under her breath while they descended the stairs, knowing full well that the newborn next to her would hear it. They had told the guys, who had wanted to go to the garage for a moment, that they would wait upstairs for them, but after a few minutes they still weren't back.

"Eleazar!" she suddenly called.

"Ya voy!" the dark haired man entered the room in a half jog, Emmett following right after him. "I needed to show this young man here my new motorcycle."

"You mean you wanted to show off your new motorcycle," Tanya corrected him with a little smirk. "I told you you should have gotten another snow mobile... buying a motorcycle in the middle of winter doesn't really make much sense, brother."

"Qué entiendes tú de eso? Pfft... and I had to get a new one because you ran over my motorbike with your car, didn't you? I know it was you, Tanya."

She rolled her eyes and laughed, but when she looked down at the dark-haired girl, she noticed that her red eyes shone bright with curiosity. Yes, everybody loved a good story... but telling her about destroying things was probably not advisable on her first day here.

"Maddie, have you ever driven a snow mobile?" Kate quickly asked to draw the attention away from Eleazar and Tanya.

The newborn shook her head. "No."

Kate's eyes widened with excitement at hearing that. "Oh, it is so much fun! We can show you how it works if you like," she offered. "It's the perfect way to spend a snowy Saturday afternoon. Or any other afternoon."

Rose and Kate stayed home to talk some more and help Carmen with the guest room while the others left the house together to go on a nice grizzly hunt. Tanya and Eleazar did not feel the need to feed on this day as they were still very much satiated from their last hunt, but Em and Maddie were hungry. And so the two hosts could serve as judges while the younger vampires drained the grizzlies they would hopefully find.

Tanya and Maddie took off immediately, and Emmett held his cousin back for a moment. "So, what do you think about our vague suspicion?"

Maddie had already been upstairs when Carmen and Eleazar came home from their little shopping trip and Rose and Em had asked their Spanish cousin if he could sense something distinct about the girl as they figured she might be gifted. They still didn't have an explanation for what exactly happened to Jasper, but it would most definitely be helpful to know if it had been Maddie's influence or if there was something wrong with their brother's gift.

He nodded thoughtfully. "It seems to be some kind of mind control."

Emmett looked at him wide-eyed, then whistled. "That's... uh, okay. So she really did something to Jasper."

"That was the first time it happened? Then don't be surprised that it just kicked in when she was feeling stressed and that she didn't even notice what she was actually doing."

Newborns rarely were aware of their abilities at first, and little accidents like that happened a lot around them until they were able to understand their talents and start working on controlling them.

Emmett nodded his head, then stopped and started to frown. "But what do you mean, _some kind of_ mind control? What does she do?"

"Well, maybe that is not the right term for what she does - it's weaker than that. Hypnosis or persuasion might be more accurate words to describe it, and I don't think that she can just randomly influence or control others with her mind alone. Otherwise it might have happened a lot sooner and you wouldn't have noticed her doing so. No, there has to be some sort of connection, maybe physical, through touch. Did she touch Jasper?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Emmett replied, "I don't know. But I think he grabbed her."

"Oh, I guess we'll have to find out how it works then."

"Can you help her control it?"

"I'll do my best to try and explain to her what I think she is doing, so she will be able to focus on that and realise that there is something more than just supernatural speed and strength. She's still denying it, isn't she?" he asked.

"She's convinced that Jasper was putting on an act to make it seem like she attacked him and the like. She heard Carlisle and Esme talking outside, and apparently Carlisle was planning on beating her for it."

He blinked his eyes at him. "Come again?"

His old friend Carlisle was compassionate and understanding – so why would he suddenly chose to punish a fledgling that was completely unaware of what exactly had happened?

"I doubt that that was his phrasing or even what he had in mind – geez, she's a newborn and barely knows what she's doing, and Carlisle is aware of that. But she swears that she hadn't done anything and thinks that the rest of our family is a huge threat to her. So she is not going to stay as long as they are around. Not that I could blame her. It really is kinda difficult."

"It seems like it, yes," Eleazar nodded and rubbed his chin while looking in the direction their female hunting partners had taken. "Did you give her your clothes to make sure she wouldn't touch someone?"

Emmett frowned at him in confusion, then let out a laugh when he understood. "I know it's too big for her, but she had chosen to wear that after she had destroyed all the new clothes Alice had bought for her. It has nothing to do with trying to protect ourselves from whatever it was she had done, it was just because she needed to wear something but refused to be dressed up. I don't always get how girls work, but I think that's what it's about. Besides, I have a great taste in fashion and she must have sensed that."

Eleazar couldn't keep himself from laughing. "Dear cousin, there is nothing fashionable about your hooded sweatshirts and jeans. You dress like you would spent all day lying on the couch watching TV."

"At least I buy my own clothes. When did Carmen get that fancy shirt for you, huh? Paisley pattern is really manly, bro."

The older vampire cleared his throat, and when Emmett just grinned at him, he said, "Shouldn't we get going and look for a grizzly for you, boy? You are going to lose with the headstart the girls have and you should know that Tanya knows exactly where to go."

Emmett laughed. "No, it's all right. The little one really needs something proper to drink and a sense of achievement." If there was only one grizzly around, Maddie should have it.

"And you, my starving cousin, need some grizzly before they are all gone. Girls never play fair, they will hunt one down and chase the other ones away and you will lose this contest before it has even started."

"I have the feeling that you want to distract me."

Eleazar chuckled. "No, it's just common decency to offer your guests a hot beverage."

Emmett gave him a knowing smile, then raced in same the direction he knew the girls had gone as he just followed the trace of smell they had left behind.

And it was like Eleazar had foreseen: Maddie had just finished draining a huge grizzly, her eyes glowing bright red as she grinned at him trough a blood-smeared mouth. She seemed to feel a lot more at ease with her thirst satiated and surrounded by people she did not completely resent.

Maybe this was a good start for her, and maybe this would be something to help convince her to stay right here in Denali.

"What tastes better, huh? Grizzly or black bear, Tiny?" he called over to her.

She smacked her lips a few times, then scratched her nose. "I cannot say just yet... I need to try black bear again. And some more grizzly."

_Yeah right_... she knew exactly what she liked better, but she just didn't want to say to make sure she would be able to have some more bear soon. Of course she would get more bear up here, as much as she could drain.

He laughed. "You do that, Mad. I'll meet you back at the house, I need to find a grizzly for myself now before I starve," he told her as Eleazar ran passed him.

She nodded at him, and he followed after his cousin and disappeared in the forest.

"_Are the male ones better?_" He faintly heard her ask Tanya.

The blonde woman frowned at the odd question. "No, what makes you think that?"

"Because it's a boy," Maddie replied and glanced down at the cold body of the bear again, then squinted up at Tanya.

"That has nothing to do with the taste, honey," the female coven leader replied. "Would you like to go look for a girl to see for yourself?"

Maddie rubbed at her eye while she looked down at the dead bear. She thought about hunting some more, especially now that she finally had fed on a bear again which tasted so much better than any of the other animals she had been forced to satisfy her thirst with... but she was still oddly curious about this place and these people and she was actually feeling completely satisfied now. Sweet blood had run down her throat and pooled into her stomach, and now its warmth was spreading throughout her body which was a wonderful feeling. Her throat burned a lot less than it usually still did after feeding on something nasty, and she had to admit that she hadn't felt that good in quite a while. "I'm full."

"Hm, another time then." Tanya shrugged her shoulders, then said, "Just tell me when you feel like drinking some more and we'll find a huge, tasty female for you. Bears are easy to find around here and believe me when I say that the 'girls' are just as tasty as the 'boys'."

Maddie gasped – not so much because of Tanya telling her that all bears were tasty, but because bears were easy to find in this area. If they really were, then it meant there were many of them... and since Tanya had told her before that she would only drink blood she liked, the times of drinking stinky moose blood might finally be over now. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I don't make jokes when it comes to bears, Maddie."

And Maddie covered her mouth with her sleeve to hide her smile.

* * *

><p>It was late afternoon on the next day when Rose and Emmett decided it would be time to head back to the family. They would have some explaining to do at home, and it was better to just get it over with. Besides, the longer they would stay here, the more comfortable Maddie would grow with the situation of them staying as well and then it would be even harder to say goodbye.<p>

As they stood outside in the falling snow, they noticed that it was causing the girl stress that they were about to leave. It was probably quite hard to lose the only people she had known for all her life – yes, it had only been about two months, but nevertheless it was all of her vampire life. She knew she didn't have to stay here, they had told her countless times, and that's how they had succeeded in convincing her to try it for a little while. They would come pick her up if it didn't work out, and then they would try to find something different that would enable the girl to 'grow up' in a secure environment.

Rose was nervous, but she couldn't let it show. She needed to be confident, which would calm the girl, because when Maddie thought that she thought it was for the best, then she would come to accept it.

"Come, I have something for you," she said and went to the trunk of the car. Maddie came to a halt right next to her, her eyes narrowed as she did not understand what Rose was talking about.

The blonde woman opened the trunk and grabbed a little plastic bag that had been hidden behind a gas canister. She reached into it, then pulled out something small and shiny.

"Here," she said and revealed a cell phone lying on the flat of her hand to her. "This is for you. I saved our numbers on it, so you can call us whenever you want. If you don't feel well, please just give us a call. But I want you to know that you can call us anytime you want, even if you just want to chat or say hello, okay? This is yours now and you can do with it whatever you want."

"You got me a phone?" she asked and bit her lip, looking like she couldn't understand why Rose would do that and had no clue how to react.

Taking it in between her fingers, Rose held it out to her, encouraging her to take it. "Yes. Put it in your pocket so you won't lose it. The charger is in the bag along with the manual. I like to read them to see what kind of functions it has, but Emmett here prefers to just find out for himself."

Rose looked at her expectantly, but Maddie made no move to take the cell from her. "I don't have any money to charge it," she admitted quietly.

"I already took care of that, so don't worry. Besides, we will call you too."

She didn't feel comfortable accepting a gift like that, but she also didn't feel comfortable getting stared at by Rose, who seemed to grow impatient because she still hadn't reached for the phone. Slowly she pulled the right sleeve of her sweatshirt back, and Rose just pressed the little mobile against her white palm so she would finally take it.

Maddie eyed the phone in her hand for a few seconds, then lifted her head to look at Rose. Her blood-red eyes took on a hint of sadness and Rose swallowed before she looked the other way.

"Make sure to have it on you at all times. Don't switch it off and keep it charged," she reminded the girl, who barely noticeably nodded her head.

"Okay," Maddie whispered before she put it in the large front pocket of the hoodie she was wearing.

Taking a deep breath, Rose shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "And listen to them, will you? They have lived this life for a very long time – you can learn a lot from them."

The young girl looked thoughtful and a little nervous as she chewed on her bottom lip and stared at the snow-covered tips of her shoes.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them, and Rose closed the lid of her trunk again just to have something to do. The dull thump made Maddie lift her head and she gazed at her, asking quietly, "If I stay here... will you still come back?"

Rose turned her head but immediately regretted it when she saw those big, red eyes looking at her. For a moment she clenched her jaw before nodding her head. "Very soon."

"Really?"

After letting out a sigh, she said, "I haven't lied to you before, and I'm not going to lie to you now. Yes, we will come back to visit you."

"When?"

Rose raked a hand through her long, blonde locks and looked to the side. "Soon, I just told you." She sounded agitated or stressed, and Maddie didn't understand what was causing that.

"Tomorrow?" she asked hesitantly.

Rose's jaw clenched and she banged her fist on the roof her car, almost denting it, before she glared at the girl. "No, not tomorrow!"

Maddie took a step back and immediately started growling at her, which pained the blonde vampire and made her regret not having tried to keep a firmer grip on her emotions. It wasn't her intention to scare her nor did she want to force her into a defensive stance, but the questions were stressful as she didn't know herself when exactly they would come visit again. All she knew was that it would take a little while until Maddie would become attached to at least one of their relatives and then it would take another while until that bond would be stronger than theirs. "Don't growl at me, you know that's rude."

The look in her eyes softened as the girl's growling slowly died down, and she let out a silent sigh while rubbing a hand over her forehead in an attempt to ease the tension that was building between her temples. "Come here."

Feeling more than just wary, Maddie remained where she was.

"Come here," Rose said again and waved her closer, and when the girl eventually took a step towards her, she slung her arms around her to hug her to her chest. She didn't tighten the embrace at first to check if the girl would understand that she wasn't in any kind of danger, and after a moment she felt safe to hug her tighter while whispering into her ear, "I promise you that we will come back, I _promise_. But I want you to stay here for now. I know this is difficult for you, but you need to trust me on this and stay here. They are good people and you'll be safe here with them."

When she drew back again, she had an almost cold and detached look in her eyes. "Now say goodbye to Emmett," she ordered.

Maddie didn't have time to return something, as Emmett, who was already sitting in the passenger seat of the car, called her over. She tentatively stepped up to him while Rose rounded the car and stopped next to Tanya to talk to her for a moment.

"Come on, Tiny, what's with the sad face?"

He held out his hand and she rubbed at her eye before she pulled her sleeve up to place her own hand in his.

His large fingers curled around her dainty ones as he gently pulled her closer, and she suddenly shook the sleeve from her other hand and put it on top of his while looking him in the eye. "Stay here," she whispered with a look that could almost be interpreted as pleading.

He stared right back at her before slowly blinking his eyes and distorting his mouth. Glancing over his shoulder at Rose who just marched up to the open driver's door, he turned his head back around to look at the newborn.

"We need to leave," Rose said while she climbed in behind the steering wheel and pulled the door shut, then fastened her seatbelt.

"Stay here," Maddie whispered again, and the look on Emmett's face turned pained as she squeezed his hand.

"I can't, little one, you need to understand. I'd love to, but it's just not possible for now."

And then – for the first time – he enfolded her and she didn't pull away or growl. She didn't tense or start to tremble, she just let him put his arms around her and envelop her in a hug.

"Step away from the car," Rose commanded without even looking at the girl. Her eyes were fixed on the snow-covered driveway.

Emmett loosened the embrace and cupped her faint rosy cheek with one of his big hands. "Very soon, Mad."

Maddie took a step back, and he pulled the door shut before he buckled up.

She heard Tanya step up behind her as Rosalie fired up the engine, and then they were rolling down the driveway, getting gradually faster. When they took the first bend, they vanished from sight.

"Maddie? Come on, let's go inside," Tanya said and held her hand out to her, but the girl's eyes were still fixed on the snowy path where Rose's car had just been and she looked like she hadn't even heard her say anything.

"Maddie?" she called again, and as the sounds of the car grew fainter, Maddie turned her head to look at her.

"Huh?"

"Let's go inside."

She glanced back at the road, then slowly nodded her head and lifted her hand for Tanya to take.

The blonde woman slowly pulled the girl towards their front door where the rest of the coven was standing. They went ahead and entered the house, and Maddie staggered after Tanya, still glancing back at the driveway again and again.

When they reached the doorstep and Tanya told her again that they would be going inside now to sit down in the living room, Maddie suddenly ripped her hand free and shouted, "No!"

She took a step back and while the others appeared by the door again, already tensing up in alarm and ready to restrain the newborn to keep her from harming Tanya, the girl just wheeled around and slumped down on the doorstep before pulling the phone from the front pocket of her hoodie.

Her hands trembled slightly as she flipped it open, then she pressed two different keys to unlock it. She really had to be careful so she wouldn't break the phone because she was so very hectic at the moment and still didn't always know how to handle her strength.

When Tanya realised what the girl was doing and that she wasn't going to attack or hurt anyone, she just gave the rest of her family a reassuring nod and pulled the door shut. Remaining standing outside on the doorstep right behind the girl, she quietly watched her as she fumbled with the phone.

Maddie was searching through her contacts.

The name and the number stood out on the illuminated display and her thumb was already hovering over the little green telephone icon, but suddenly she hesitated.

She looked over her shoulder as she noticed that she wasn't alone, and when Tanya just smiled at her and nodded her head encouragingly, Maddie focussed back on the mobile phone in her hand.

Another moment passed in which she still seemed to be completely indecisive before she took a deep breath and pressed the call button.

* * *

><p>Stepping down on the gas pedal, Rosalie sped out of the driveway and down the path that would soon lead them to the highway so they could go back home.<p>

She didn't want to do it, but she glanced back into the rear view mirror just before they would take the bend, and that's when she saw the girl standing there, frozen in place, just watching them drive off through her red, unblinking eyes.

It wasn't just a plain stare, it was like she could detect a hint of dejection in these big eyes, and she clenched her jaw and pushed the gas pedal even further down with her foot until it touched the floor.

"Is that how you say goodbye?" Emmett asked, but Rose just pretended like she hadn't heard him.

"That was harsh, Rose," he remarked after a few seconds of silence and glanced at his wife who kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead.

"Emmett, don't," she whispered and lightly shook her head, still not taking her eyes off the asphalt.

He put his elbow on the window frame and looked out. "Maybe this was a stupid idea... heck, we cannot just leave her here! They are complete strangers to her!"

She refused to say anything or even look at him, and he huffed.

"_Rose, I am talking to you!_"

"Emmett, I-" she started to say when a sudden ringing sound startled both of them. Emmett quickly reached into the pocket of his jeans and retrieved his phone.

She gasped. "You switched it back on?! Emmett, have you lost your mind? Don't answer it!"

"Rose, shush," he said and held up a hand to silence her, before pressing a button on his phone to accept the call and holding it to his ear.

"That's early, Tiny, what's up? Are you missing me already?" he asked cheerfully, even though the tense atmosphere in the car was anything but.

When the girl stammered a little, he let out a short laugh. "Aww, you're checking if Rose gave you the right numbers, aren't you?"

Rose had nearly steered the car into the wall of rock to their right, but she had caught herself quickly enough and just gave her husband quick glances every half a second to see how he reacted and why the girl was calling barely a minute after they had left.

"_Kinda?_ Oh, come on. Why would we give you fake numbers? I'd never get a call from you if she hadn't given you the right number... yeah, she hasn't switched it back on... yes, of course!... okay, tell the others I said Hi, okay?... yes, bye!" and then he hung up, stuffed the phone back into his pocket and then gave his wife a huge grin.

* * *

><p>An hour passed until Tanya figured it couldn't wait any longer. She wanted to let Carlisle know that his children were safe and already on their way back home, and she wanted to know what had driven him to suddenly change someone out of the blue - and a young girl at that. It was cruel to see that this person would never grow up into the adult she had been supposed to become, and it was cruel to know that she's bound to have difficulties accepting this in a few years when she would be able to really understand that she would never change like the humans that surrounded them. Of course they could try and keep her away from humans, but she would sooner or later grow bored with staying in this house and only be able to see the forest and the mountains. This was not the right life for a child.<p>

She left the living room and went into the kitchen to find their house phone, then dialled Carlisle's number.

He picked up on the second ring, and Tanya did not wait for him to say Hello.

"Carlisle, seriously? A little girl?"

There was a moment of stunned silence, until he realised who was on the other end of the line speaking to him and what exactly that person had said. "_She's with you, Tanya? Oh, thank God, we were sick with worry. Is she all right? Are Emmett and Rosalie all right?_"

Did they really think Rose and Emmett would have taken her away to abandon her in a forest or kill her? What had happened between now and the last time she had seen them? Have they gone completely mad? "Rose and Em are fine and will be with you soon, and she is more or less all right for someone who got treated like-"

"_Why did nobody inform us earlier about her whereabouts?_"

"I don't know. Rosalie called me, said she would bring Maddie up because she hates your guts and then they were here." Tanya was very straightforward – it wasn't the time to exchange kind words.

"_It is complicated, yes._"

"It obviously is. How could you change someone so young?"

"_Alice had these visions about her. She knew where to find the girl and when, and she knew that she would end up being changed._"

"That's what you have told me before, but now I have seen her, Carlisle."

She heard Carlisle breathing on the other end, but he didn't say anything.

"We've talked to her and your children, and it seems that you have done a great job traumatising a young soul. I hope you are proud of yourselves."

Again, he did not react to her rebuke, but when she didn't say anymore, he quietly asked, "_When can we pick her up again?_"

Tanya snorted, a noise that really did not sound right coming from a woman like her. "Are you serious?! You won't pick her up again, she is staying with us for the time being."

He sighed. "_Tanya, I appreciate your hospitality, but -_"

"It was her decision," she interrupted him. "She doesn't want to stay with you."

Brief silence.

"_Could I talk to her for a moment?_" he asked, but it sounded like he was already doubting that Tanya would let him.

"I'm sorry, but she doesn't want to talk to you." Well, she hadn't asked Maddie... but she definitely wasn't going to. And Rose and Emmett had told her not to let the girl know that they were actually usually on good terms with Carlisle and the rest of his coven. At least not yet.

"_I understand. Would she be willing to talk to Esme?_"

"No," she snapped, but then sighed and continued in a softer voice. "Carlisle, give her time. I have the feeling that you have no idea how difficult everything is for her at the moment – try to understand what she's going through and why she wanted to get away from you. If you ever want to have the chance at a normal relationship with her, you need to leave her alone for now and hope she will be interested in talking to you in the future."

"_She's been a daughter to me ever since the first time Alice had told me about her._"

"That's very touching, Carlisle, really," she replied with mock sympathy before she groaned, frustrated with herself and the entire situation. "If you really want her to be, then grant her some time. She is a child, she doesn't see things so rationally. What happened during the last few weeks is a lot to digest, just think about what she has lost."

Her life – she had lost her entire life, starting with her family, her friends and her home. They hadn't killed her family or burnt down her home, but still - she had basically lost everything and everyone she had ever known and now needed time to deal with it all - and then there were the newborn emotions and moodswings on top of that.

"_I am aware of that. I was just hoping she would warm up to us._"

"Not like that, not by invading her privacy and changing her emotions," she told him and he could practically hear her shake her head. "We'll take good care of her, Carlisle, trust me."

"_I trust you, of course I trust you._"

"Good. Now I would like to join them again. Carmen, Eleazar and Maddie are picking out wallpaper for her room."

There was a stunned silence.

"_She lets him be near her?_"

"Yes," she said casually. "What did you think? That she was scared of men or hates them all?"

"_Actually, yes._"

"No, she isn't. And she only hates you."

He swallowed audibly. "_Then I hope she will be happy with you._"

"Me, too."

* * *

><p><strong>I would like to thank all of you for your reviews and your support. Writing stories is so much more fun when you know that people enjoy reading them!<strong>

**And before I do anything else, I'd like to answer a review that just blew my mind. Claudia, thank you so much! I am humbled that you would take the time to read all the stories and then leave me this amazing review to give me your thoughts on it! Yes, Carlisle and Esme are trying to have a normal relationship with Maddie and be her parents, but they don't seem to understand her very well and it shows. And because of that, she doesn't feel like opening up to them. Just think about how long it took her to tell them she trusts them and then it's still questionable if she was being honest or just thought it was what's expected from her. But with their 'help' I get the chance to explore the other characters' personalities some more****. Emmett and Rose are my main focus, because I like them and find them to be the most interesting characters. I think a lot of people would like to see them take care of her, but I didn't want to change anything about the hierarchy in the coven and I wanted to make their cover story more real. Besides, I need Carlisle and Esme, because without all the misunderstandings I wouldn't have anything to write about... or at least not that much :D**

**And in this story here it looks like Maddie is scared of men, but she isn't really. She didn't have any trouble accepting Eleazar... it's just Carlisle she doesn't want near her. Why? I will update Otlta soon and the next few chapters of that story will explain it. I would have updated that story a year ago, but I wanted to finish this one first and... it's going to be drama again.**

**Additionally, I had several people ask me to write a story with some Maddie/Jasper- bonding, so I wrote that one now. It's not finished yet, I have the first 4 chapters on my computer now, but it's not going to be a very long story.**

**Sooo... what else? Um... I think that's it, yup. I'll post the next chapter soon, and then this story here is finished! :-)**

**Oh, and I have an Outtake of this story which I will post very soon... it shows what happens at the Cullen house during chapters 33-35. It's not that important, but maybe you guys are interested.**

**Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read and review this story!**


	36. Chapter 36

__Almost two years later...__

"This is where they live?"

"Yes, do you like it?" Tanya asked, glancing over at Maddie.

The dark-haired girl with the bright golden eyes looked out of window and scanned the road and the few shops the that were supposed to be the town center. "I don't know," she returned, "... it's tiny."

"It's perfect, Mad. Not too many people, surrounded by woods and it is almost always cloudy. You'll have a great time."

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent." Tanya smiled brightly and removed her right hand from the steering wheel only to rub her shoulder in a comforting manner. She had known the girl for nearly two years now due to the fact that she had stayed with them for her newborn years. She couldn't allow her to let her doubts take over now. The girl needed to see them again and really get to know them to be able to understand.

"I'm not sure," Maddie replied in a quiet voice.

"And why is that?" she asked. "Are you nervous?"

After a moment of hesitation, Maddie said more to her fidgeting hands lying in her lap than to Tanya, "I didn't want to stay with them before... what if __they __don't want me to stay with them now?"

That question seemed to amuse the blonde woman as she laughed out loud like the young vampire had just told her a funny story.

She felt Maddie's confusion and out of her peripheral view she saw her stare at her, which only served to amuse her even more. "Do you ever listen?" she asked in between laughs. "We talked about that, and you even talked to Carlisle on the phone, did you not?"

If the person she had detested the most told her just how happy he was that she would consider staying with them again, then how could she still have doubts about that?

"I did." It was the first and only time they had talked in nearly two years. Last week.

She had started talking to Edward and Alice half a year ago maybe, and the first time she had accepted a call from Esme had been just a few months ago. But Carlisle? No, she hadn't been interested in hearing his voice or what he would have to say to her. But that had changed, obviously.

Now she wasn't even sure anymore who came up with the idea of her moving in with them again, but everyone had been very supportive and encouraged her to try it, and she liked the thought of living with Rose and Em again. They had visited them in Denali every other month or so, but they only ever stayed for a few days until they needed to go back and go to school or do whatever it was they needed to do.

"See? Really, I don't understand where this is coming from now. They are your parents and they have missed you very much and are overjoyed to see you again."

Putting her elbow on the window frame, Maddie let her chin rest in her hand and sighed. "Well, I understand that they technically are... but I don't know if I can see them as such." Then she bit down on her lip while she glanced at Tanya again before she added, "I don't really know them."

Tanya had explained to her that turning someone was the only way to create a vampire. And the person who turned you is supposed to offer guidance, safety, knowledge and the like. Like a parent, somehow. They had really made a point of telling her that they were her family by venom. It just felt like the best course of action after she found out that they weren't just friends with Rose and Emmett, but friends with all of them. Even more than that, they considered them family, and it disturbed the girl. But as she learned for how long they have been knowing each other and that Carlisle and Esme were very loving and trustworthy people, she calmed some. If the people she trusted said they were good people, then maybe they were right and she had been wrong.

"Just take your time, nobody is rushing you. And if it doesn't happen for you to think of them as your parents, then it doesn't happen," she explained casually and shrugged her shoulders. "It won't change their feelings for you and they are still your family."

"Hm ..."

"Oh, come on now! You get to have siblings, _isn't that fun_?" she asked in her best 'I'm talking to a toddler'-tone of voice that usually made Maddie roll her eyes and laugh.

But this time she just shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe..."

"Aww, you talked to all of them on the phone, didn't you? And you said you wanted to try it and see how it would go. How can you still have doubts, Maddie?"

"I don't know, okay? It's just so weird! ... did you know that Alice got me a whole new wardrobe? She said it was necessary after seeing what I will be arriving in. What is that even supposed to mean?" she asked and looked down on herself, trying to figure out what was wrong with her jeans and sweatshirt.

Tanya chuckled.

"And Esme has been cleaning the room I will be staying in every day for weeks now."

That just seemed to amuse the blonde even further. "See? They are excited to have you back!"

"... or they have gone nuts."

"Yeah... no." Tanya hummed, looking like she was thinking about it. "No, I'm pretty sure they are just excited."

"But what if ..."

"No! No, no, no! Enough with the 'ifs and 'buts''! It is going to be great, end of story!"

Maddie snorted, then gave Tanya a weird look while she put her knees up against the glove box and stuck her hands in the front pocket of her sweatshirt like she was getting comfortable in her seat. "Did you just yell at me?" she asked with an amused smirk.

It was quiet in the car until a laugh escaped the blonde vampire. "I needed to so you would stop worrying!" she told her, but looked a little embarrassed. "Don't you see that your doubts are without reason? You shouldn't be nervous, and you know I will pick you up if you have the feeling that it doesn't work out."

"Yup, I know. And I'm not nervous,... I just wanted to make small talk."

"Right."

"Uh-huh."

After a moment, Tanya said, "Mad? I knew you weren't really nervous. You are too confident for that and I can tell that you are just excited." Of course she knew that she was nervous, but telling her that wouldn't really boost her confidence, now would it? Tanya was very proud of the development Maddie had made in the last few years. She had turned into a normal, happy girl again - the complete opposite of what she had been like when she joined them.

Yes, sometimes something resurfaced, but that was very rare.

"Ok, I lied... I am nervous."

"No, you're not," Tanya replied absent-mindedly and pulled the car off the road and onto a hidden path.

"I don't care if you believe it or not," she added and crossed her arms over her chest. Only a second later she uncrossed her arms again and sat straight up as she realised where exactly they must be now.

They had just turned onto the driveway that led to the Cullen residence. It was nearly invisible from the street, what with all the trees and ferns. But Tanya obviously knew this path, and they followed it for a few miles.

After two more turns, a white house with huge windows and a deep porch came into view. It was a mansion, large and imposing, and while its size was intimidating, it also wasn't. Kinda.

There was something warm and inviting about it but she still she couldn't shake the nervousness off.

This was it now.

Her new home.

She stopped scanning the house and looked straight ahead at the driveway... and the people standing there.

Esme and Carlisle were already waiting in front of the garage. He had his left arm around her shoulders and they both gave them warm smiles like they were genuinely happy to see them.

Seeing them gave her a weird mixture of old and new feelings. She clearly remembered how she had felt about them before Rose and Em had brought her up to Denali. She remembered the confusion and the pain, remembered how much she had loathed them. And then she had just followed her instincts, that told her that they weren't to be trusted. A lot of time had passed since the last time she had seen them, she had gotten the chance to stay somewhere else and learn about what had happened from a different perspective. Turned out that she hadn't understood their motivation for changing her and misinterpreted their behaviour, but Tanya had told her that she hadn't done anything wrong. Her instincts, especially right after the change, had taken over and so she couldn't help acting the way she had.

Maybe that had been one of the reasons why she had considered going back – even though right at that moment she considered leaving again.

Tanya slowed down, then stopped the car in the middle of the driveway and turned off the engine.

They looked at each other for a brief moment. Tanya noticed that Maddie was unsure and maybe even a little scared, and so she just gave her an encouraging smile. "Come on," she said and patted her knee. "let's say Hello."

Maddie glanced at them again, then looked back at Tanya and gave her a hesitant nod in response. They opened their doors and just before Maddie could put a foot on the ground, the front door of the house was forcefully opened and out ran Emmett. He made it over to her in less than a second and immediately buried her in one of his famous bear hugs, spinning her around a few times. "Tiny, you're here!"

"Em, can't... breathe," she choked out.

"No worries, you don't have to!" he laughed, but set her down on her feet again.

Maddie pushed her hair out of her face and looked up just in time as Rose walked toward her and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Hi Rose!"

"Glad to have you back," she said with a smile and ran her hand over the girl's hair.

"Give me another hug!" Emmett demanded.

"No, you crush me." Maddie screwed up her nose and shook her head just to tease him.

When he smirked, she wisely took a few steps back, away from him. But he just smirked even broader and then he broke out into a run.

She shrieked and ran.

Tanya did not interfere in the welcoming ceremony the kids were having. She directly went over to Esme and Carlisle and they hugged as well.

"It is exciting, isn't it?" she asked. "To have her back?"

"We cannot thank you enough for taking care of her. All of you," Carlisle replied.

"Don't thank us too early, she is a handful." Then she laughed. "No, just kidding. But have fun with the terrible twos!"

Carlisle let out a chuckle.

"Without you, we might have never seen her again. And she looks so content and full of life, you did a great job, Tanya," Esme said with venom-filled eyes. Always sentimental, that one.

"It was a pleasure having her, don't you worry."

"And everybody got along?"

"Well, she's a kid... she got herself in trouble a few times, but nothing worth mentioning. Only Irina was of the opinion that you should be taking care of your brat on your own. Oh well, you know her. They had some difficulties, especially because of Maddie's gift."

"Is she able to control it?"

"Well, depends on what you mean by that." She smirked at Carlisle and went on. "It doesn't just 'go off' like it used to in the beginning, she is able to purposely use it now. But with her still very impulsive decisions ... the outcome isn't always so pleasant. She preferred to use it on Irina, that's why she wasn't always so welcoming towards your little girl."

Carlisle and Esme beamed when they heard Tanya call Maddie their 'little girl'. Hopefully it would be this way. Alice had told them already that Maddie would even call them 'Mom' and 'Dad' in the near future... but the future could always change.

"I hope no permanent damage occurred."

"No, no. They loved teasing each other. Irina chided Maddie on various occasions, it got on her nerves, so she told Irina to 'stop talking to her'. At first we thought our sister was just ignoring her, until we found out what Maddie had done to be left alone by her. That was quite funny actually. And it lasted about a week. Similar things happened often, but it wears off sooner or later, depending on how much she concentrates and in which way she bonds with the person in front of her."

"In which way?"

Tanya was surprised that they barely knew anything about that. Well, if that was the case, then the next few weeks would get really interesting for them... "Yes, you see, she needs to build up a connection. Touch, eye contact... she needs the person's full attention."

Em and Mad were still speeding around the house a couple of times until they saw Emmett catching up with her, grabbing her from behind and lifting her off the ground before he spun her around once more.

She squealed and laughed - all her worries had obviously vanished into thin air the moment she got out of the car - just like Tanya had anticipated.

Hearing Maddie's carefree laugh gave Carlisle a jolt of joy.

"I have never heard her laugh before," he said breathlessly, probably more to himself than to anyone, then looked at Tanya with the biggest smile on his face.

Now she laughed, too. "Get used to it, you'll hear it a lot from now on."

The hug was broken by a squeal, coming from Alice, who quickly embraced Maddie, then looked her up and down, tzked and grabbed her hand. "Come!"

Maddie was perplexed, but had no other choice than to follow little Alice, waving to Jasper and Edward in the process.

Not even a minute passed and Alice and Mad walked out of the house again. Alice still had a grip on her arm, and she looked a little displeased. Nothing much had changed about the girl, apart from the pearl necklace gracing her neck that hadn't been there just moments ago. The little pixie pulled her new sister over to their parents and Tanya.

"Hi," Maddie said and raised a hand in greeting.

"She doesn't do what I say," Alice grumbled like she was complaining about a broken toy. The newborn had refused to put on the beautiful new clothes she had bought for her and only agreed to wear the expensive necklace for a few minutes.

"Maybe because she doesn't want to," Tanya offered helpfully and Maddie gave her a thumbs up for guessing right.

"But why?"

"Alice, please," Carlisle mildly rebuked and shook his head at her.

Maddie grinned at the pixie, but the glee quickly vanished from her face again because she had noticed something that startled her.

"Why are you crying?" she asked and blinked at Esme who had tears in her eyes.

"I am just happy to see you, sweetheart," Esme replied and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind the girl's ear. Maddie didn't pull away, and Esme smiled at seeing that. "How are you?"

Maddie whispered, "The truth? I really don't like the necklace, but psssht!"

"I heard that."

"Good, then I don't have to repeat it."

"You'll thank me soon enough, I've seen it," Alice said, then turned on her heel and walked away. Nah, she hadn't really seen it, but she was in a pissy mood that her much needed help wasn't appreciated as it should be.

Maddie took her eyes off Alice and turned her head back around.

They were looking at her like they were expecting her to say something, and she fidgeted a little while she averted her eyes.

"Um... sorry about your car... and the wall," she said and grimaced while hesitantly looking up in Carlisle's eyes.

When he chuckled, she visibly relaxed.

"It is already forgotten, dear, no need to mention it again. Besides, it was my fault so you have nothing to apologise for." And he had quickly gotten a brand new black Mercedes, that he loved just as much as his old one, or to be more precise: Just as much as his old ones. This hadn't been the first car that had fallen victim to one of his children.

She nodded and smiled up at Tanya, who had put her hands on her shoulders. Carlisle would have liked to do the same, he would have liked to embrace her, but it was probably still too early for that. He still got the feeling that the girl wasn't completely comfortable in his presence, and she didn't look like she wanted to be hugged by him.

But she was here now, she looked happy and she talked to him - the day couldn't get any better.

"Have you seen the house yet?"

Maddie looked at Esme and shook her head. "Only the bathroom downstairs. Alice shoved me into it and told me to get changed."

"Then we still have a lot to show you. I hope you like your room. It's that one, you see?" Esme took a few steps to stand next to her, then pointed to a window on the topmost level.

"I'll get a room _up there_?"

"Don't be daft. Do you think you'll get locked in the basement?" Tanya snorted.

Maddie groaned and rolled her eyes. "No? But I thought all the rooms up there would be taken."

"Sweetie, we had chosen a room for you right from the beginning. We rebuilt it, so you'd have a bigger closet."

"Huh?"

That really surprised her. Not just the part about the bigger closet, but also the fact that while she hadn't been with them, they had still prepared a room for her.

Esme looked a little embarrassed. "Of course we didn't know if you'd come to live with us again, but still, we always had a room ready, just in case."

Maddie really didn't know what to say, but Esme interpreted her silence as disappointment.

"You can have a different one if you don't like it, it's no trouble at all," she quickly said and shook her head.

Maddie just blinked at her in confusion, and Carlisle put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Let her take a look at it first, love."

"Edward's room has a nicer view or we'll give her ours. She'd have her own bathroom and-"

"No!"

Esme and Carlisle gasped and stared at her. That had been a very loud and determined No.

"I don't want your room," she said emphatically.

Carlisle's face was unreadable, but Esme suddenly looked hurt... or disappointed.

"I-," Maddie started, but then she just let out a groan and walked away.

They watched her go, confused by the situation and unsure of how to react, and Tanya cleared her throat to gain their attention again.

"I'm sure she did not mean what you think she meant...," she said apologetically.

Carlisle held up a hand and shook his head. "No, that's absolutely fine, we were a little too rash."

They saw her head for the car to lean against the side, then noticed how Edward whispered something to Rose and then sent her over to her while he approached them.

"Mom, no," he said when he reached them, "she's not going to leave again after just a few minutes."

"Edward-"

"Sorry, Carlisle, but I just had to let your thoughts through to know what's going on."

"And?"

"Your offer made her uncomfortable. She just doesn't want to cause you any inconvenience and she has no idea how to decline something without running the risk of sounding rude."

"Really?"

He nodded.

And indeed, she did not get back in the car or wanted to leave. Rose brought her over to them, and then they led her into the house and she saw a big banner hanging in the foyer with the words 'Welcome home' written on it in bright pink letters. She didn't say anything to that, and so they just started to show her the house and her room that she actually really liked. The view was fine, the bed was comfy, only her closet was really big and already stuffed with clothes, so she would barely have any room for her own stuff that she had brought with her.

A sense of quiet had settled over the house after the little tour, and when the kids were busy talking and playing a game on Em's gaming console, the parents and Tanya left the house for a walk through the forest to give the kids some time.

It had been a while since the last time they had seen each other, and it would be nice to just talk. Especially now that Maddie would be staying here, it might be beneficial for them to know a few things so they would have a smooth start and would be able to get to know each other a little quicker.

"Has she opened up to you?" Carlisle asked when they passed the first few trees that bordered their property.

That was quick.

"About her past, you mean?" she asked and gazed up at him, then narrowed her eyes. "Why would that be the first thing you ask me about?"

He held her gaze before he looked up at the sky for a moment.

"I was just worried." He told her and ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "The last time I saw her... How does she feel about the transformation?"

Of course he would ask. His guilt was still weighing hard on him, and he needed to hear how she was doing now. "She remembers the pain, of course," she replied, then let out a sigh. "Over the time she got more comfortable with herself and the situation, I think. You know children can adapt fairly quickly as long as they are feeling safe and you're being honest with them. So we tried telling her about things she needed to know and she seemed to accept the facts."

"What about... her past? Does she still remember much of her human life?"

She looked back down at the muddy forest floor and shrugged her shoulders. "She's told me some things, but I know it wasn't all. Sometimes she is so unsure of herself and you just don't know where it's coming from. I have the feeling that the biggest problem is that she is ashamed of it."

"Ashamed?"

"Yes. It's sometimes hard for her to accept people being nice to her, because she's 'not a nice person', whatever that is supposed to mean."

"Oh dear," Esme breathed.

Carlisle put a hand on his wife's back, then quietly asked, "And what does she remember about her time... with us?"

Tanya's eyes darkened. "More than enough."

Carlisle and Esme exchanged a look.

"I still can't believe what you've done. You could have at least tried a little harder to tell her about you, instead of just letting her get worse and then turn her. Did you really think she would accept you just like that after that stunt?"

They walked in silence for a while as neither Carlisle nor Esme could change what had happened, until Tanya suddenly spoke up.

"I took her to San Francisco a few months ago," she told them.

Both Esme's and Carlisle's eyes widened at that. "You did? How did she react?"

Tanya's face took on a hint of sadness as the memory appeared. "That was so tough to watch. She needed closure, you know? So I took her there and we went to the graveyard where her family is buried. She had a complete breakdown when she saw that her mother along the baby wasn't buried next to her father, but next to her mother's new husband."

They didn't know what to say, and so they remained quiet and waited for Tanya to continue.

"She practically pulverised the tombstone, well, the half where his name was written on, crumbled it to dust."

When they just stared at her, she went on.

"I took her away from there then. I have never seen so much desperation in anyone's eyes."

"Is she all right?" Esme asked quietly, her hand covering her lips.

"She was different for several days, she cried nonstop without even noticing. The tears were just running down her face, but she didn't want to leave. She asked me if I could go back to the graves and put down some flowers and candles for her, and so I did. When we drove back to Alaska, she slowly became herself again. I'm not sure if I did her a favour taking her there. It was her biggest wish, but I really don't know if it was the right thing to do, seeing how she reacted. But it's her family, so who am I to keep her from that? I don't have the right - no one does."

"You gave her the chance to go to the cemetery and visit their graves and I'd like to thank you for that. I am ashamed that she missed the funeral because of us and couldn't make any arrangements concerning the location of her mother's grave."

Tanya nodded her head. "She remembered where her father and brother were buried, and since she expected her Mom to be buried next to them, she headed for that first. But like I told you she wasn't there, so Maddie went on in search for her. The poor girl."

Suddenly Esme frowned. "I thought the little baby boy was with the mother."

"Yes." Tanya nodded, but looked like she didn't understand what Esme was getting at.

"But you just said her brother was with her biological father."

"I'm not talking about the baby."

Carlisle gasped. "What?"

"Her older brother, his grave is next to her father's," Tanya clarified for them.

"No," Carlisle replied and shook his head, "she doesn't have another brother, she was an only child until the baby was born."

"Did she tell you that?"

He looked dumbfounded. "No, but we-"

"Well, I also don't know for sure, but when she passed the tombstone next to her Dad's, she let her fingers run over it like she was petting it. I almost didn't notice, but when I looked down I saw that the last names were the same."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"She mentioned a car accident and that her father was in a coma for six weeks before his body gave up. This boy died six weeks prior to her father."

"Maybe-" "He was thirteen."

Judging by their silence, this information had taken them off guard and seemed to worry them.

It indeed worried them, as they didn't know how this family setting would affect her now. She would live with siblings and them, who would take the role as her parents. Would it work out?

She would clearly be comfortable with Rose and Em, but they didn't know how exactly she saw them. Friends? Family? If she had a brother back in her human life, than that might explain why she had warmed up to Emmett so quickly. Maybe she actually sought a family, perhaps it would bring comfort to her and make her feel safe. It was hard to tell, they had barely talked yet and she seemed more interested in interacting with her siblings than with them. But that was okay, they would take one step at a time.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up. I was just trying to brief you about a few things. Maybe I'm wrong about the boy, she has never mentioned him."

They nodded. "Yes, maybe."

"Okay... and please don't ask her about about her family, okay? If she wants to talk, she will – if she doesn't, she won't. So don't ask her and don't pester her."

"Of course not."

"Don't screw up again," she reminded them.

"Tanya, we want this to work out," Carlisle told her. "We made mistakes, but we don't regret having changed her. Now is our chance to show her why all this happened. You don't need to tell us to try harder or to try our best to make this work. That's what we want."

"I will pick her up again and take her back to Denali if you-" "Tanya."

She understood why her warnings were getting on their nerves, but nevertheless she wanted to let them know that they couldn't afford to make any more mistakes with the girl. And she wouldn't let them traumatise her again. "Just thought I'd mention it," she mumbled and shrugged her shoulders.

After walking some more around the forest, they headed home again to see how the children were doing, and just as they had jumped over the river, the sounds of cheering and laughing wavered over to them through the open French windows.

The kids were still talking and playing, and apparently Emmett was winning non-stop, making the others believe that he was cheating somehow. But the boy just had a lot of practice.

And another topic seemed to be discussed.

"_... and then you can go to school with us!_" They heard Alice say.

"_... or I stay home with you and we'll play my new Xbox games,_" Emmett suggested with a huge grin. He was convinced that his new games were much more exciting than physics or social studies. And he wanted to make it his duty to teach the girl everything she needed to know. They could start with Evil Dead, and then head on to Otogi. Or Spongebob, whatever she liked.

Sighing, Maddie leaned back against the pillows. "_I do wanna go outside, but I'm not sure about that school idea._"

"_School's fun! You can learn a lot about humans and-_"

Rosalie held up a hand to stop her. "_Alice, please. She knows everything about humans already. Not everyone woke up with complete memory loss, you know?_"

"_Everything?_" Alice looked doubtful.

"_I think so, yes,_" Maddie replied and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"_Ok, then tell me... why is it so important for girls to go to the restroom together? Why do people drink when it gives them horrible headaches? Why do they pee themselves when you put their hands in warm water while they sleep and why do they put chilli peppers in their food even though-_"

"_Alice,_" Rose interrupted her when Maddie just gaped at the spiky-haired pixie.

"_I really want to know!_"

"_How would I know stupid stuff like that? Google it._"

"_It's human stuff, I thought you have been human!_" Alice argued.

"_So?_"

Edward reached out and put a hand on his sister's shoulder while still trying to beat Emmett in his favourite fighting game. "_Alice, stop it._"

"_But she needs to go to school, she doesn't know anything about humans!_"

Edward and Emmett just finished their round, and Maddie took the controllers from them when they offered them to the group. She held one out to Alice.

"_Come on_," she prompted with a smile and pushed the controller into her hand. "_I wanna crack your skull in half._"

Tanya cleared her throat when she noticed her cousins exchange a weird look. "Well, they do seem to get along just fine," she remarked and smiled at Carlisle and Esme who just until a minute ago had still been worried.

Yes, it looked like it might indeed work out...

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the last chapter of this story. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing and being patient with me :-)<strong>

**The next story will be Jasper/ Maddie bonding, because I got asked to write that. I have a few chapters, but I think I won't post it until the story is complete. That way you won't have to wait forever until I update. Aaand I will continue Otlta soon, very soon.**

**Okay, that's it, t****hanks everyone!**


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